The Venture Capital Case for Maritime Autonomy

When we look at the maritime industry, we like to break it down into two main categories: unmanned undersea and unmanned surface maritime technology, where both categories include hardware and software solutions. What has changed over the last several years is that maritime autonomy has evolved from a niche defense market into a venture scale investment category. Growing geopolitical competition, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, the Red Sea, and other contested waterways, has transformed both the ocean surface and undersea environment into critical zones of military competition. As a result, governments are allocating significantly more resources and capital toward autonomous maritime capabilities that can provide persistent surveillance, logistics, mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, and distributed lethality at a fraction of the cost of traditional crewed platforms. The U.S. Navy alone continues to expand investments in unmanned maritime systems and broader fleet modernization efforts.

The buyer universe has also expanded considerably. In addition to traditional defense customers such as the U.S. Navy, SOCOM, and allied maritime forces, strategic acquirers now include large defense primes, shipbuilders, autonomy software providers, and dual-use technology companies seeking to operate across land, air, sea, and undersea domains. This is creating a much more active merger and acquisition environment as companies race to build all-domain autonomous capabilities rather than develop every component internally. Recent examples include Havoc AI’s expansion of its maritime autonomy platform to land, sea and air, reflecting a broader industry trend toward acquiring or integrating technologies that enable cross-domain operations.

Capital formation is accelerating alongside acquisition activity. Havoc AI recently raised $85 million, bringing total funding to nearly $100 million in less than two years, while Blue Water Autonomy raised a $50 million Series A after an earlier $14 million seed round. Booz Allen recently invested in maritime company Ulysses as part of their recent Series A round. Other strategic investors such as Lockheed Martin, Hanwha, and In-Q-Tel are increasingly investing directly into maritime autonomy companies, signaling both customer demand and future acquisition interest. As autonomous maritime systems prove operationally effective and become programs of record, we expect acquisition timelines to compress, strategic premiums to increase, and consolidation to accelerate. Similar to what occurred in the drone and defense software markets over the past decade, maritime autonomy is rapidly becoming a core layer of future military capability and one of the most attractive emerging categories for venture backed defense technology.

We have recently seen several interesting companies and wanted to highlight some companies that are building in the maritime space below. If you are a pre-seed or seed company building in this domain, reach out! We would like to learn more.

Op-Ed: Maritime Cybersecurity is a Financial Investment

The article frames maritime cybersecurity as a core financial investment rather than a discretionary IT cost. Modern shipping and port operations are deeply digitized, with vessels relying on interconnected systems for navigation, engine control, cargo handling, communications, and port coordination. This connectivity expands the attack surface, making ships and maritime infrastructure increasingly attractive targets for cybercriminals and state actors. The author emphasizes that even relatively simple intrusions, such as tampering with AIS data or accessing onboard systems, can create real operational disruption and expose sensitive commercial and security information.

The central argument is that the economics of cyber risk in maritime are now impossible to ignore. A single cyber incident can lead to costly vessel downtime, delayed cargo, supply chain disruption, and reputational damage that cascades across global logistics networks. Yet many operators still underinvest in cybersecurity relative to the scale of exposure. The piece contends that treating cybersecurity as a line item operating expense underestimates its return profile: modest, consistent investment in cyber defenses can prevent disproportionately large losses, reduce operational risk, and strengthen resilience across increasingly software-driven maritime systems.

More links to explore:

• NSWC Port Hueneme Taps ATI to Manage New Maritime Tech Consortium

• Embry-Riddle Dives Deeper Into Uncrewed Maritime Tech

ZeroFox and Reality Defender Partner to Close the Synthetic Media Gap in External Threat Protection

ZeroFox and Reality Defender have formed a partnership to address the growing risk of AI generated “synthetic media” being used in cyberattacks. The integration embeds Reality Defender’s deepfake detection capabilities directly into the ZeroFox external threat protection platform, allowing security teams to identify whether images, audio, or video content used in impersonation and social engineering campaigns has been artificially generated. The goal is to close a gap in traditional external threat workflows, which can detect malicious infrastructure but often cannot verify the authenticity of media itself. By adding real time multimodal detection inside ZeroFox’s existing “Discover, Validate, Disrupt” workflow, analysts can more quickly confirm and respond to impersonation attempts involving executives, brands, or other high value targets. The companies argue this will improve accuracy, reduce time to takedown, and help organizations better defend against increasingly realistic AI driven fraud and misinformation campaigns.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

As Pentagon pushes for battlefield AI, some military leaders urge caution

The Pentagon’s aggressive push toward battlefield AI is meeting resistance from within its own ranks, creating a significant doctrinal divide over the role of autonomous decision making in combat operations. While the Department of War continues to accelerate AI integration across targeting, reconnaissance, and command systems, a growing faction of senior military leaders is publicly urging restraint, particularly around lethal autonomous weapons and AI driven strike decisions. The tension reflects a broader uncertainty about the operational, ethical, and strategic implications of delegating life and death choices to algorithmic systems in high stakes environments.

What makes this moment notable is not the presence of skepticism, which has always existed around emerging military technologies, but rather the timing and seniority of those voicing concern. This is active duty and recently retired flag officers questioning whether the current pace of AI deployment is outstripping the military’s ability to validate performance, understand failure modes, or maintain meaningful human control in dynamic combat scenarios. The concerns span technical reliability, adversarial manipulation, escalation risks, and the erosion of human judgment in contexts where context, culture, and proportionality matter as much as precision.

The broader implication for defense technology investors is that the pathway from prototype to production is becoming more contested, even within the customer base. Autonomous systems companies can not assume that capability demonstrations alone will unlock procurement at scale. There is a widening gap between what the technology can do and what military institutions are organizationally, legally, and culturally prepared to adopt. The winners in this market will be companies that build not just performance, but verifiability, explainability, and graduated autonomy into their systems. Those that can help the Defense Department navigate the gap between ambition and doctrine will capture the long term value, while those that push purely on capability may find themselves technically impressive but operationally sidelined.

US, UK, Australia launch joint underwater drone project by 2027

The United States, United Kingdom, and Australia have announced a joint initiative to develop and field underwater autonomous systems by 2027 under the AUKUS security framework. The program aims to accelerate the deployment of unmanned undersea vehicles for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and potentially offensive missions across contested maritime domains. The collaboration will focus on interoperability, shared development timelines, and coordinated procurement pathways. This signals that underwater autonomy is becoming a trilateral strategic priority rather than a series of parallel national programs.

The move reflects growing recognition that the subsurface domain is becoming as contested and technologically dynamic as airspace. Undersea drones offer persistent monitoring of critical infrastructure, submarine tracking, mine countermeasures, and distributed naval presence without the cost, risk, or manpower requirements of crewed platforms. For dual use investors, the signal is clear: underwater autonomy is transitioning from experimental capability to core defense infrastructure, with allied interoperability as a forcing function for standardization and scale. Companies building modular, software defined underwater platforms with open architectures stand to benefit as AUKUS procurement accelerates over the next 24 months.

America’s Next Arsenal Will Be Built by Startups

A new narrative is solidifying in Washington and across defense policy circles: the next generation of American military capability will not come primarily from traditional primes, but from venture backed startups building software driven, modular, and rapidly iterating platforms. The argument centers on speed, cost, and adaptability. Startups are fielding drones, AI targeting systems, counter UAS platforms, and autonomous vehicles in months rather than years, at unit costs orders of magnitude below legacy programs. Lessons from Ukraine, where commercial and startup built systems have defined battlefield outcomes, are accelerating this shift in procurement philosophy.

What matters here is not just the technology, but the industrial and cultural transformation this represents. Defense startups are forcing the Pentagon to rethink how it buys, tests, and integrates new capabilities. Companies like Anduril, Shield AI, and dozens of others are building not just products but entirely new models of defense production, ones rooted in continuous software updates, modular hardware, and venture scale rather than cost plus contracting. For investors, this is the industrial base thesis playing out in real time. The companies that can combine technical performance with the operational maturity to navigate government bureaucracy, security requirements, and allied interoperability will define the next decade of defense innovation. Those that cannot will remain impressive demos without pathways to production.

More links to explore:

• Pentagon’s 300,000 Drone Plan Hits Supply Wall, China Controls 98% of Magnets

• 2026 Northeast National Security Conference | June 3

Auriga Space | California firm rethinks missile defense without rocket motors

Auriga Space is developing a novel missile defense concept that replaces traditional rocket powered interceptors with electromagnetic launch systems capable of accelerating projectiles to hypersonic speeds using electricity. The approach aims to address a growing challenge in U.S. air and missile defense: interceptor production is constrained by reliance on solid rocket motors and a fragile domestic supply chain for key propellants. Backed by contracts from the Missile Defense Agency and AFWERX, Auriga argues that reusable electromagnetic launchers could dramatically lower the cost per interception while reducing dependence on scarce rocket components. The company plans to begin hypersonic testing in 2026, with the long term vision of deployable, containerized launch systems that could provide more scalable and affordable missile defense against drones, missiles, and other emerging threats.

HawkEye 360 draws broad Wall Street support following IPO debut

Space based signals intelligence company HawkEye 360 is receiving strong attention from Wall Street following its recent IPO, with several major banks initiating coverage and most assigning Buy, Outperform, or Overweight ratings. Investors are drawn to the company’s unique position as a commercial provider of radio frequency (RF) geospatial intelligence, using a constellation of more than 30 satellites to detect and analyze signals from radar systems, communications networks, maritime vessels, and GPS jammers. Analysts see HawkEye as a beneficiary of rising global defense spending, growing demand for space based intelligence, and the shift of ISR missions from traditional airborne platforms to satellites. While some firms caution that the stock’s valuation already reflects much of its growth potential, the broader consensus is that HawkEye is well positioned to capitalize on an expanding national security space market expected to grow significantly over the coming decade.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

It’s Boston Tech Week, which means hundreds of founders, investors, operators, and researchers are gathering across the city to talk about what’s next. But beyond the noise, the real opportunity is finding the signal and increasingly that signal is defense tech, dual-use innovation, and the builders creating companies in Boston. Few ecosystems combine the same density of world class labs, research universities, engineering talent, maritime testing grounds, early stage accelerators, and government connected innovation networks. Boston has become a place where companies can go from breakthrough research to deployment-ready technology faster than almost anywhere else.

This Thursday, May 28, New North Ventures Co-Founder & GP Jeremy Hitchcock will be speaking at Boston Tech Week on the panel “Future of Dual-Use: What’s Pacing Human-Out-Of-The-Loop Autonomy?” As more founders realize Boston is one of the best places in the country to start and scale frontier technology companies, conversations around autonomy, defense innovation, and national security are becoming central to the region’s next chapter of growth. We hope to see you around Boston this week and reach out if you are a founder building in defense tech.

Where to Build A Defense Start Up

Most founders default to Washington, DC as the place they need to be to build their tech. They think about proximity to Congress, to lobbyists, to the prime contractors with the long institutional foundations. They’re not wrong that DC matters. They’re wrong about how much it matters and when it matters.

Where you build a defense startup is a capital allocation decision. It shapes who you can hire, how fast you can iterate, who will fund you, and how quickly you can get in front of the operators who will actually use what you build. Getting it wrong doesn’t kill you outright, it just adds drag, at every stage, compounding over time.

Here’s our perceived map of where we think are some hubs, while keeping in mind that in today’s day and age, if your technology is great, you can be anywhere and investors will find you.

Los Angeles, CA:

This is where a defense tech renaissance was, over the past two decades, born and where it remains densest in raw industrial terms. Anduril (Costa Mesa), SpaceX (Hawthorne), Impulse Space (Redondo Beach) among others.

The clear connection here is manufacturing gravitas. At least half of all space vehicles and satellites are currently manufactured in El Segundo. The Los Angeles area has decades of aerospace talent, which includes propulsion engineers, systems integrators, manufacturing workers who have seen generations of defense tech pass by before their eyes. They’ve been building defense tech for Northrop, Raytheon and Boeing for years. The result of this is a talent density that’s nearly impossible to replicate.

For founders building in hardware intensive defense domains, to include autonomous systems, propulsion, weapons systems and spacecraft, there is probably no better place. The ecosystem has also produced a network of ex-SpaceX, ex-Palantir, ex-Anduril engineers who are now founders themselves, creating a secondary talent gravity that accelerates startup formation.

NOVA/DC:

Sure, we mentioned DC earlier, and it might’ve felt like we were tossing shade at it but in all realities, it’s the oldest answer in the define startup playbook. For the right type of company, it’s definitely still the answer, it’s just not the only answer anymore. Companies in the NCR have proximity to the Pentagon, the intelligence community, and the defense contracting ecosystem, making it the rational choice when your go-to-market depends on deep government relationships, classified environments, and long acquisition cycles.

The structural advantage is customer density. In DC/NOVA, the program offices that typically decide whether to buy your technology, the contracting officers who execute the deals, and the end users who will actually operate your system can all be reached within a 30 minute drive. That’s a meaningful friction reduction when you’re navigating SBIR applications, STRATFI transitions, or Other Transaction Authority contracts.

What DC does fundamentally lack though is a startup culture. There’s a reluctance to move fast, accept the unknowns and frankly, fail at all. The region’s talent has historically been socialized into the contractor mindset: stable, process-driven, security-conscious. We believe that’s changing, the Pentagon has issued statements saying, in fact, that that must change, but it’s been relatively slow thus far.

Austin, TX:

Austin’s defense tech story runs through one building. Here’s a list of defense acquisition arms that maintain a presence there.

T2COM (formerly known as Army Futures Command), Army Applications Laboratory, AFWERX, NavalX, Defense Innovation Unit, National Security Innovation Network and Joint Defense Innovation Unit.

This is the result of a deliberate DoD strategy, beginning when DIU established its first Austin outpost in 2016, to build a front door to the commercial tech ecosystem outside the Beltway. The primes are now following, hoping to keep their eyes on some of the novel technologies that the defense ecosystem has been boasting about down in Austin. In 2025, BAE Systems announced a $150 million campus expansion in Austin, adding 500 jobs. Oracle launched a defense ecosystem offering cloud infrastructure. The primes are there and there are sure to be more on their way.

Founders here are not socialized into the contractor mindset. The tech ecosystem is populated by builders who want to move fast, and the DoD innovation units that chose Austin specifically want to work with them. Austin’s strength is increasingly in AI, autonomous systems, cybersecurity, and drone technology.

San Diego, CA:

The maritime industry. Look, it’s being talked about daily.

The hubs above have legible narratives and established gravity. But the next tier is worth understanding and in some cases, there’s a structural tailwind that the broader market hasn’t fully priced in yet.

The Navy and Marine Corps have massive installations in San Diego, and that proximity shapes everything from who you can hire (veteran naval officers with domain expertise) to who will take your first meeting (program managers who work a few miles from your office).

The broader ecosystem includes legacy primes like General Atomics and Northrop, which have both been a significant employer of defense engineers in the region for decades, and a growing venture infrastructure that reflects the defense tech boom. Maritime defense, ocean tech, and unmanned surface and undersea vehicle development have found a natural home here.

Boston, MA:

What Boston has is something harder to replicate than the other hubs, and more durable in the long run: the deepest concentration of defense-relevant research institutions in the United States, generating a continuous supply of foundational IP and PhDs that the rest of the places listed in this article cannot match.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory has been the operational core since 1951. It is one of the most productive federally funded defense research institutions and has been the talent factory for the Boston defense ecosystem for seven decades. Since its founding, MIT/LL has spun off more than 100 startup companies.

Boston has become the center of gravity for autonomous maritime defense startups and it’s not just because of the robotics talent pool, though that matters. It’s physical access to operational testing water combined with the proximity to the Navy’s most important undersea warfare institution (NUWC Newport) in the country. HavocAI, a New North Ventures portfolio company currently has three vessel classes in active water testing in Rhode Island: the 38-foot Seahound, the 42-foot Kaikoa, and the 100-foot Atlas multi-mission vessel, all in the waters adjacent to NUWC Newport. That’s not coincidence, it’s deliberate proximity to the customer who will certify and procure the systems.

For founders seeking talent from the most legitimate research institutions in the country, or to partner with some of the most advanced laboratories in the country, there’s no better place. For founders seeking exposure to maritime testing infrastructure, there also may be no better place.

Here are a couple more that could be considered:

Huntsville, Alabama

This defense ecosystem was built up around the redstone arsenal and for decades it operated accordingly, anchoring itself in missile defense and operations. The current administration just announced plans for US Space Command to be headquartered there. That moves a ton of jobs and a Space focus over to Huntsville.

For a defense startup building in missile defense, directed energy, space domain awareness, or any other advanced missile technology, one could argue that there is now no better place in the country to be proximate to the customer.

Colorado Springs, CO

Known as a hub for military operations for some time now, Colorado Springs boasts itself with some serious hubs. USNORTHCOM, NORAD, Ft. Carson, US Space Combat Forces Command, USAFA, just to name a few highly regarded military entities in the Springs. Losing the US Space Command to Huntsville certainly stings but with the deep history that the Colorado Springs corridor has, defense tech, and the need for it aren’t going anywhere.

The Catalyst Campus operates as an accelerator with a direct pipeline to Space Force procurement. Between the young officers coming out of the Air Force Academy with real, genuinely innovative ideas, to the satellite operators and space domain awareness SMEs, this is an excellent opportunity to hire some real defense talent. Companies have and will continue to take advantage of that. The primes are there, with Northrop, Lockheed and L3Harris boasting massive operations but also, you’ve seen companies such as Parsons and Kratos beginning to thrive there as well, leading us to believe the smaller fish will and should be attracted to this area.

So here are a few aspects to consider when you’re looking at places to found your company… and of course whether you have the freedom and resources to relocate should be a primary consideration. But after that, what are you building? Who are you selling to? What stage are you at? Is there a way to similarly scale your technology to the commercial sector in these locations?

Exclusive-Pentagon spars with SpaceX over Starlink price hike during Iran war

The Pentagon and SpaceX are reportedly locked in a dispute over pricing for Starlink satellite communications services supporting U.S. military operations against Iran. SpaceX has sought higher pricing for bandwidth and terminal services being used in the Middle East, arguing that wartime operations create extraordinary demands on the constellation, including unpredictable bandwidth spikes, contested electromagnetic environments, and heightened risks to the satellites themselves. The Pentagon, meanwhile, argues that existing contracts should already account for surge military usage. The dispute highlights a growing tension in modern defense procurement: commercial infrastructure built for civilian markets is increasingly being relied upon for frontline military operations under active conflict conditions.

The broader implication extends far beyond Starlink. For years, the Pentagon embraced commercial technology providers to move faster and reduce costs compared to traditional defense contractors. That model works well in peacetime, but modern conflicts increasingly target the infrastructure layer itself, from satellites and cloud networks to GPS and subsea cables. For venture investors and defense startups, the lesson is becoming clearer: dual-use business models built around shared commercial infrastructure may struggle when national security missions require sovereign control, surge capacity, and resilience under attack. The companies most likely to win long-term defense contracts will be those architected from the start for contested operational environments where the infrastructure itself becomes part of the battle space.

More links to explore:

• Drone Dominance: The Road to the Gauntlet: Phase 2 Qualifier Invitees Announced

• Royal Navy Deploys Mine Hunting Mothership for Potential Hormuz Mission

StarCube: New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners

Advanced nuclear is re-entering the New England energy conversation, and at the New England Conference of Public Utilities Commissioners, New North Ventures portfolio company StarCube represented the growing momentum behind small modular reactors and next-generation nuclear innovation in the region. Jeremy Hitchcock joined leaders from NextEra Energy Resources, GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Innovation Alliance, and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to discuss how New England will need firm, scalable, carbon-free power to support electrification, AI infrastructure, and industrial growth. The discussion highlighted that SMRs and microreactors are rapidly moving from concept to deployable infrastructure, and that states creating clear regulatory pathways and long-term procurement certainty will be best positioned to attract capital, talent, and energy deployment.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

A blue ocean is forming in RF native infrastructure. The market is stepping down cleanly from institutional validation into early stage opportunity: Hidden Level has become the Series C anchor for passive RF airspace intelligence with its $65M Series C; MatrixSpace and Fortem define the Series B layer with deployable AI radar and counter-UAS infrastructure; and the Series A layer is filling in with companies like AnySignal, Distributed Spectrum, and CX2 across RF infrastructure, signal intelligence, and electronic warfare. The map below lays out that funding stage progression, from Series C validation down to seed stage wedges.

What makes the category interesting is that this is not just “counter-drone.” It is the emergence of a broader RF stack for sensing, spectrum awareness, airspace security, electronic warfare, satellite communications, and critical infrastructure protection. Passive RF collection and airspace awareness are becoming the arteries of modern dual-use infrastructure, with applications across defense, airports, stadiums, power grids, ports, autonomous systems, and space. The deal activity reflects that shift: $20M into MatrixSpace, $25M from Lockheed Martin into Fortem, $24M into AnySignal, $25M into Distributed Spectrum, and $31M into CX2 all point toward a market that is moving from point sensors toward programmable electromagnetic infrastructure.

The company that stands out at the seed layer is Nullspace. Unlike many companies on the map, Nullspace is not another passive RF collector or counter UAS platform. It is building the simulation and design software layer that could sit underneath the entire category. If Hidden Level and its peers represent the visible arteries of RF awareness, Nullspace is closer to the veins and design tissue that let future RF systems be modeled, optimized, programmed, and projected into complex electromagnetic environments. That makes Nullspace interesting as a potential “RF design foundry” for the next generation of antennas, arrays, radar systems, EW payloads, communications networks, and quantum hardware.

NY Firm Opens RF Testing Chamber to Boost Airspace Solutions Production

RF sensing company Hidden Level opened a new state-of-the-art anechoic chamber at its manufacturing campus in East Syracuse, New York, to accelerate the testing and production of its airspace security and counter drone systems. The chamber creates a shielded environment that blocks outside electromagnetic interference and absorbs internal signal reflections, allowing engineers to conduct highly precise, repeatable testing of RF sensing systems used for low-altitude awareness and C-UAS missions. By bringing testing capabilities fully in house, Hidden Level says it can move faster on product development, reduce reliance on third party facilities, and more quickly deliver validated systems to the US military and allied partners. The expansion also reflects broader investment in domestic defense manufacturing and RF infrastructure in Central New York, supported by partnerships with state economic development organizations and manufacturing programs, as the company continues scaling production to meet rising global demand for drone detection and airspace security technologies.

More links to explore:

• Distributed autonomous platform for RF sensing expanded by Aerovironment

Quantum Systems acquires Estonia’s SensusQ

German drone manufacturer Quantum Systems has acquired Estonian AI driven intelligence platform SensusQ, bringing together advanced drone hardware and battlefield intelligence software into a more integrated defense technology stack. SensusQ’s team and operations in Estonia will remain in place, with plans to continue hiring engineers locally. The acquisition follows Quantum Systems’ broader expansion strategy after its major Series C raise in late 2025 and reflects growing demand for combining autonomous ISR platforms with AI powered intelligence analysis tools.

SensusQ, founded in 2020, developed software that fuses data from drones, cyber events, OSINT, sensors, and human intelligence into a unified operational picture for defense and security users. In 2024, New North Ventures participated in SensusQ’s seed financing round, helping support the company’s international growth and product expansion. The company had recently gone through financial restructuring in Estonia before the acquisition, but emerged with renewed momentum as demand for AI-enabled defense software continues to accelerate across Europe and NATO-aligned markets

As Deepfake Content Increases, Companies Fight Back

As deepfake content becomes more sophisticated and widespread, companies are racing to develop tools that can detect and defend against AI generated misinformation, impersonation, and fraud. Deepfakes have exploded from roughly 500,000 examples in 2023 to an estimated 8 million in 2025, creating growing risks for enterprises, governments, and online platforms. Modern deepfake detection now goes beyond text analysis and instead relies on multimodal systems that analyze inconsistencies across video, audio, images, metadata, and behavioral patterns to identify manipulated content.

One of the companies featured is Reality Defender, a New York based deepfake detection platform and portfolio company of New North Ventures. Founded in 2021, the company provides enterprise grade tools to identify synthetic media across audio, video, images, and text through APIs and web applications designed for governments, financial institutions, and large enterprises. Reality Defender previously raised significant venture funding and has continued expanding partnerships and deployments as demand for AI-driven fraud prevention accelerates globally.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

Increased Demand For Innovation In Cislunar Capabilities

Last month, a crew of four astronauts successfully completed a historic journey around the Moon and back. Marking the first time humans have ventured that deep into space since 1972’s Apollo 17 mission, the flight was a true demonstration of America’s bold Space program. On April 1, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the CSA launched from Kennedy Space Center, eventually reaching a record breaking distance of 252,756 miles from Earth and passing within 4,067 miles of the lunar surface. By April 10, they safely splashed down in the Pacific, returning in such great health that all four were able to walk off the recovery ship unassisted.

This was amazing for so many reasons, 54 years later “Still got it” America’s Space Program says like a former college basketball player says when draining a 3. From a defense lens, what’s so interesting is that the U.S. Space Force announced it was standing up a dedicated office to figure out how the military fits into whatever comes next in the Earth-Moon system. The juxtaposition between NASA proving humans can survive the journey, and the Space Force immediately asking who secures it is the story of cislunar right now.

On April 15, at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the senior advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition, announced the creation of the Cislunar Coordination Office, an acquisition task force whose mission will be to build the roadmaps for acquiring cislunar capabilities. Purdy made explicitly clear that this wouldn’t be an exploratory working group, this would be a collaborative effort to ensure we build out a roadmap for cislunar activity and then begin coordinating with industry.

It’s not surprising that we hear the Department of War going in this direction after President Trump’s executive order Ensuring American Space Superiority in December of 2025. The direction from this executive order establishes that America will have begun constructing the “initial elements of a lunar outpost by 2030” and thereby extends the DOW’s defined area of responsibility through to lunar space.

Although the executive order does not explicitly call for a military base on or around the Moon. What it does is mandate a sustained U.S. architecture, to include transportation, communications, and navigation, which by our estimation, inherently carries security implications.

Here is what most coverage of the Space Force’s cislunar ambitions breezes past: cislunar space is technically challenging in ways that GEO (Geosynchronous Orbit) and LEO (Lower Earth Orbit) are not, and the gap between the Space Force’s current toolset and what cislunar demands is significant. The fundamental issue lies in that the traditional orbital mechanics and toolsets can’t be used in cislunar like they can be in GEO and below. The moon’s gravitational influence starts to play a role once you get to the cislunar regime. The commercial space industry will be needed, and just like the Defense Industrial Base has been tasked with in so many ways before, a new blueprint will need to be created. What companies will dare to be part of such a challenging problem? What companies will dare to deal with such a vast area of responsibility?

Although Artemis II wasn’t a military mission, it changed the overarching strategic calculus by the DOW and specifically the USSF. For five decades, the Moon was inert from a national security standpoint, sure it was scientifically interesting, but militarily, it was irrelevant. As habitats start to form, infrastructure starts to be built, communication and power systems start to exist on or near the moon, there will become a need to monitor, protect, and in a contested scenario, defend them, and that is inherently a Space Force problem.

The Cislunar Coordination Office’s stated intent to partner with industry is significant, and the timing, coming immediately after Artemis II and within months of the December executive order, suggests the government is serious about moving from planning to procurement. They’ll define the capability gaps. They likely won’t be abstract impossibilities, but rather, well-defined and acquirable technology areas.

For investors paying attention to the defense-space intersection, the pattern here rhymes strongly with how SDA developed at proliferated LEO. Early government investment in domain awareness created the acquisition architecture that commercial operators eventually fed into. The companies building cislunar relevant capabilities now are positioning early for what will likely become a meaningful acquisition category by the late 2020s.

The Space Force has 9,000 Guardians. The entire organization could fit in a high school football stadium. It cannot build cislunar alone. The question is not whether the Space Force will be in the Earth-Moon theater, it will, it’s surely established that. The question is whether the companies of the current Defense Industrial Base will move fast enough to matter, because others will and we’ll be on the lookout for them!

Amazon vs. SpaceX: The High-Stakes Battle for Space Internet | WSJ

The race to dominate low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet is accelerating, with Amazon attempting to close the massive gap between its satellite initiative and SpaceX’s rapidly expanding Starlink network. Amazon has launched roughly 300 satellites so far for its LEO business, despite being authorized to deploy more than 7,000, while SpaceX has already launched approximately 12,000 Starlink satellites into orbit. LEO satellites, generally operating between about 100 and 1,200 miles above Earth, offer major performance advantages because signals travel shorter distances, resulting in faster internet connectivity for users on the ground. The video also notes that major space assets including the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope operate in LEO, underscoring how strategically important this orbital region has become for both commercial and government activity.

The market opportunity for global broadband connectivity is enormous, with a SpaceX executive previously estimating the addressable market at roughly $1 trillion annually. Still, scaling a LEO network comes with major challenges. Unlike traditional geostationary satellites positioned more than 22,000 miles from Earth, LEO systems require thousands of satellites to provide comparable global coverage. Another challenge is that much of the Earth’s surface is ocean, limiting the number of traditional household customers directly beneath satellites at any given time. As a result, operators are aggressively targeting maritime and aviation customers including container ships, cruise lines, and airlines to maximize network utilization. Investors continue to see strong upside in the sector, with Goldman Sachs projecting the LEO satellite market could grow to approximately $108 billion by 2035, while Starlink is expected to become a major driver of SpaceX’s valuation and anticipated IPO plans.

Tech giants race to build space data centers to power AI boom

As AI demand pushes terrestrial power grids to their limits, major technology companies are increasingly looking to space as the next frontier for compute infrastructure. The article highlights how SpaceX, Google, Nvidia, Amazon, and Meta are exploring space based data centers powered by solar energy. Elon Musk recently predicted orbital data centers could become viable within “two to three years,” using networks of low Earth orbit satellites equipped with GPUs and connected via laser communications to operate as one massive AI compute cluster. The appeal is compelling: solar generation in space can be five to eight times more efficient than on Earth, while the near freezing conditions of space could dramatically reduce cooling costs for energy intensive AI servers.

Early efforts are already underway. Nvidia backed startup Starcloud successfully launched a satellite carrying Nvidia H100 GPUs that is already running Google’s Gemma AI model in orbit, and the company now plans to build a massive 5 gigawatt orbital data center. Meanwhile, Google is developing its “Project SunCatcher” satellite compute network, while Meta recently signed a deal to source up to 1 gigawatt of space generated solar power for AI infrastructure. The urgency is clear: the International Energy Agency projects global data center electricity consumption could reach 950 terawatt hours annually by 2030, equivalent to the output of roughly 120 nuclear power plants. While launch costs, radiation exposure, and space debris remain major hurdles, the article frames orbital compute infrastructure as a serious long term solution to the growing AI energy crisis.

More links to explore:

• The Space Economy: Mapping 86 Companies Across 11 Subsectors

• DIU Projects | Project TitanCore - Modular Data Centers for AI Compute

Havoc Raises $100M Series A to Power the Future of All-Domain Collaborative Autonomy

Havoc AI, a portfolio company of New North Ventures, announced a $100 million Series A round to accelerate the development of its all domain collaborative autonomy platform across maritime, air, and ground systems. The raise brings the company’s total funding to roughly $200 million since 2024 and included participation from major defense and technology investors including Lockheed Martin and SAIC. Havoc’s software enables a single operator to coordinate large fleets of autonomous systems operating together in contested environments, reflecting the growing defense focus on scalable, software defined autonomy.

The company says its autonomy stack already operates across more than 100 platforms and has accumulated over 25,000 hours of autonomous testing and deployments, generating more than 200 billion data points in the process. Havoc has gained particular traction in maritime autonomy through its Rampage autonomous surface vessels, while expanding into broader all domain operations spanning sea, air, and land. The funding comes amid rapidly growing investor and government interest in collaborative autonomy technologies designed to support distributed military operations and resilient logistics in contested environments.

HawkEye 360 Raises $416M in IPO (NYSE: HAWK)

HawkEye 360 raised $416 million in its IPO after pricing 16 million shares at $26 each, the top end of its expected range, giving the company an initial valuation of roughly $2.4 billion. The Virginia based company, which trades under the ticker HAWK, operates more than 30 satellites that collect and analyze radio frequency emissions globally for defense, intelligence, and national security customers. The IPO reflects growing investor appetite for space and defense technology companies, particularly those tied to signals intelligence and geopolitical monitoring.

The company’s stock surged roughly 30% on its NYSE debut, pushing its market value above $3 billion and signaling strong momentum for the broader defense tech and commercial space sectors. HawkEye reported approximately $118 million in 2025 revenue, achieved profitability for the first time, and disclosed a backlog of more than $300 million. Much of its business comes from U.S. government and allied nation contracts, including work supporting maritime tracking, GPS jamming detection, and RF intelligence collection in contested environments. The successful offering is also being viewed as an important bellwether ahead of the highly anticipated SpaceX IPO expected later this year.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

The Strongest Demand Signal in Defense: Inside the Pentagon’s $54B Autonomous Push

Every defense budget cycle has a headline number, some big round figure that gets quoted in press releases and argued over in appropriations hearings. The FY27 budget has one too: $1.5 trillion in total proposed defense spending. Buried inside that number is a single line item that deserves far more attention than it feels like it’s getting. The Defense Autonomous Warfare Group, or better known as DAWG, was allocated $226 million in FY26. In the FY27 request, that number becomes $54.6 billion.

That is a 24,167% increase in a single fiscal year. Not a rounding error. Not a spreadsheet anomaly. A deliberate, historic, structural shift in how the Pentagon intends to fight wars going forward.

For a bit more context: the entire FY25 budget request for the United States Marine Corps was $53.7 billion. DAWG, a program office that stood up less than two years ago, was requested more funding than it costs to run an entire military service for a year. The broader Pentagon drone budget for FY27 is approximately $74 billion, DAWG accounts for roughly 73 cents of every dollar in that envelope.

The budget architecture is worth understanding. Of the $54.6 billion, only $1 billion sits in the standard base defense budget. The remaining $53.6 billion comes from the proposed $350 billion defense reconciliation package, making DAWG alone approximately 15 percent of that entire legislative vehicle. That structure is both a feature (bypassing the slow onboarding of normal appropriations) and a political variable (reconciliation has to pass).

Budget requests are not appropriations, and a number this large, concentrated in a single relatively new program office, will attract scrutiny, if it hasn’t already. This scrutiny will come both from members who think it’s necessary and from those who view it as a politically convenient way to run defense spending outside normal oversight.

The budget numbers are unprecedented. What’s equally significant is the conceptual shift driving them.

In a previous article, we described Army Secretary Dan Driscoll outlining an ambitious vision for rapidly expanding America’s drone capabilities. Central to that goal is a fundamental cultural shift, drones should no longer be treated as accountable equipment signed out of an arms room, but as expendable ammunition consumed in the field. For investors and founders, that reclassification matters: it signals a move toward high volume, low cost, attritable systems rather than expensive long lifecycle platforms.

What this means for the DIB: the DAWG allocation is a flashing green light.

The Pentagon has effectively pre-announced its largest technology priority for the next several budget cycles. The funding request creates a demand signal of extraordinary scale for companies operating in the autonomous systems stack. From airframes and propulsion to the sensors, communications, edge computing, and software layers that make machine swarms militarily effective, the time is now for the DIB to show how we can absorb and distribute such a demand signal.

Here’s the bottom line, this doesn’t just seem like a line item in another tedious bill, this seems more doctrinal. A 24,167% investment increase in one particular capability (or set of capabilities) is how the world’s largest investor signals a strategic pivot that they believe is irreversible.

Whether that bet is right, whether the execution of the DIB can match the ambition of the DOW, and whether Congress will ultimately authorize the full scope of what’s been requested are all legitimate open questions. But the direction that they’d like to head isn’t ambiguous. Whether you are building or investing in autonomous systems, now is the time and the demand is here.

Autonomy To Rule The Seas? Retired Admiral Provides Analysis

In this Defense News interview from the 2026 Sierra Space Conference, retired Admiral James Foggo discusses how autonomy is fundamentally reshaping naval warfare. He argues that unmanned systems, spanning surface vessels, undersea platforms, and aerial assets, are becoming central to how modern navies achieve awareness, deterrence, and operational reach. These systems allow forces to extend sensing and presence across vast maritime areas while reducing risk to sailors in highly contested environments.

Foggo emphasizes that autonomy is no longer experimental or niche, but is actively being integrated into real fleet concepts and operational planning. Advances in artificial intelligence, sensor fusion, and secure communications are accelerating this shift, enabling autonomous platforms to operate with greater independence and coordination. He frames this as a transition from isolated unmanned experimentation to distributed, networked maritime systems that can scale across theaters.

He also highlights that future maritime dominance will depend on a hybrid force structure, where crewed ships and autonomous systems operate together as a cohesive network. In this model, speed of decision making, data advantage, and the ability to deploy large numbers of low cost autonomous assets will matter as much as traditional platform capability. Foggo suggests that navies that fail to adapt to this shift risk losing both operational tempo and strategic advantage in future conflicts.

Eyewitness to war: Ukraine’s DIY drones defy Russian jamming

Ukraine’s war effort has rapidly turned into a large scale experiment in decentralized, “DIY” drone warfare, where inexpensive, rapidly assembled systems are reshaping frontline combat. The article highlights how Ukraine’s ecosystem blends civilian engineers, small workshops, and commercial components to build FPV and reconnaissance drones at scale, enabling continuous adaptation under battlefield pressure. These systems are widely used for surveillance, artillery spotting, and direct strikes, giving Ukrainian forces persistent visibility over Russian positions while keeping costs extremely low.

A key theme is that Ukraine’s advantage comes less from any single platform and more from its speed of iteration. Because components are widely available and production is distributed, designs can be modified and re-deployed quickly in response to Russian electronic warfare and jamming. This creates a constant cycle of adaptation on both sides, with each new countermeasure quickly followed by a workaround, especially in areas like frequency hopping, fiber optic links, and low cost FPV deployments.

Overall, the conflict is an accelerating technological arms race in which electronic warfare and drone innovation are tightly intertwined. Rather than a decisive breakthrough in autonomy or mass production, the battlefield is defined by continuous improvisation, with Ukraine’s open, flexible production model allowing it to sustain rapid innovation even under intense attrition and pressure.

More links to explore:

• Working To Automate Nuclear Plant Operations

• US Partnership Aligns Drone Innovation for National Security

Reality Defender Targets Enterprise Demand for Deepfake Incident Response Framework

Reality Defender is positioning itself as an early leader in enterprise deepfake security by launching a Deepfake Incident Response Playbook, a structured, four tier framework that helps organizations detect, contain, and respond to synthetic media threats embedded in everyday workflows. The company is moving beyond pure detection to operationalizing deepfake risk inside security teams, particularly around high risk vectors like identity verification and executive impersonation.

This highlights the growing enterprise demand for these capabilities as deepfakes increasingly target core business processes. For investors, this positions Reality Defender to benefit from rising cybersecurity spend in AI-driven threats, with potential upside from deeper integration into security stacks, stronger enterprise adoption, and pricing power in a rapidly emerging category.

The American Hawkeye 360 intends to increase its value to $2.4 billion as part of the IPO

HawkEye 360 is preparing for an IPO that could value the company at up to $2.4 billion, with plans to raise around $400 million by offering shares expected to be priced at $24–$26 per share. The company operates a constellation of satellites that collect and analyze radio frequency data, serving U.S. government and allied defense customers.

The planned listing reflects strong growth and rising demand for space based intelligence, as governments increase investment in defense and monitoring capabilities. HawkEye 360 is aiming to capitalize on improving IPO market conditions and growing investor interest in national security and space tech companies.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

How New North Ventures Builds Companies from Zero to One

Some companies start with an idea.
Others start with a founder.
The best ones start with both — and the right environment to grow.

At New North Ventures, company incubation is not a formula. It is a craft.

Every company we build begins differently. Sometimes we identify a problem set with clear commercial and government scale and then go find the right entrepreneurial talent to tackle it. Other times, a uniquely qualified founder comes to us with an insight born from years of experience inside government, the intelligence community, or a deeply specialized industry. From there, we help shape the founding team, pressure test the approach, and build the roots of the business from the ground up.

What remains constant is our conviction around three things: talent, approach, and support.

The earliest days of a company are often the most fragile. There is no roadmap, no operating manual, and no guarantee that the first version of the idea is the one that ultimately scales. That is where incubation matters most.

At New North, being the first institutional check is only the beginning. We work closely with founders every week, advising on strategy, opening our network, making introductions to early customers, investors, and partners, and helping them navigate the zero-to-one journey with momentum.

The art is not in building companies the same way.
The art is knowing how each company needs to be built differently.

The New North Incubation Philosophy

The core of incubation is not capital. It is conviction.

We believe that the best businesses often emerge from people who have lived the problem firsthand, operators who have spent years inside critical systems, mission environments, and complex industries.

Most often, these founders are former intelligence community leaders, government operators, or experts who have built experience over decades in highly niche sectors. They see a demand inside government that also has the ability to scale commercially. This intersection is where extraordinary companies can be born.

Our role is to help turn expertise into enterprise.

That means:

• finding exceptional talent

• pairing founders with complementary teammates

• refining the approach to solving the problem

• helping create the first support network around the company

• bringing the first customers, capital, and strategic partners to the table

No two formation stories look the same and that is exactly the point.

From Zero to One: Three Incubation Stories

Across two funds, New North Ventures has incubated companies that span cyber defense, critical infrastructure, and founder ecosystem enablement.

Below is a deeper look at three of those journeys.

1) CrunchAtlas

From elite cyber operators to autonomous defense at scale

Founded: 2024

CrunchAtlas began with talent.

New North first met the founding team through a SkillBridge program, where it quickly became clear that they were not just technologists, they were operators.

Former cyber professionals from the U.S. government, the team had spent their careers working at the front lines of real world cyber threats. Their expertise had been developed in mission critical environments where speed, accuracy, and resilience were non-negotiable.

The insight was immediate: this capability needed to exist at commercial scale. That realization became CrunchAtlas.

The company is building an AI-native autonomous cyber defense platform designed to detect, hunt, triage, and remediate threats in air-gapped and critical infrastructure environments.

What makes this incubation story compelling is the clarity of founder market fit.

The founders had lived the problem for years. They understood how adversaries were evolving faster than traditional enterprise defense systems and saw firsthand that human speed workflows were no longer enough.

New North helped support:

• early company formation

• go-to-market strategy

• first customer introductions

• first institutional capital pathways

• ecosystem partnerships across defense and infrastructure

This is incubation at its best: operator insight transformed into venture scale opportunity.

2) StarCube

MODULAR, FACTORY BUILT MICROREACTORS PROVIDING POWER AT THE EDGE

Founded: 2023

Some companies are built to improve markets. Others are built to reshape them.

StarCube was founded with a vision to solve one of the most pressing global challenges: energy scarcity and resilient power generation.

The company is developing agile nuclear microreactors that are modular, factory built systems designed to deliver reliable energy at the edge.

This is the kind of company that requires an unusual appetite for risk.

Massive upside.

Massive complexity.

Massive regulatory burden.

And yet, these are often the companies that define decades.

The thesis is straightforward: the world is entering an era where power demand, driven by AI, data centers, industrial infrastructure, and defense systems is accelerating faster than legacy energy systems can respond.

StarCube is pursuing a solution built for scale.

This incubation process has required:

• long-horizon strategic thinking

• regulatory navigation

• financing and infrastructure planning

• ecosystem credibility building

• founder support through a deeply technical build cycle

Great incubation requires the willingness to underwrite hard things.

StarCube represents exactly that.

3) Pitchfire

Building the connective tissue between founders and capital

Founded: 2025

Pitchfire’s story starts with people.

The CEO came from the General Partner’s prior company building network, a reminder that talent networks are often the single greatest asset in incubation.

Here, the conviction was centered on the founder.

The belief was simple: the right leader with the right network could build a platform that meaningfully improves how founders connect with investors.

In venture, access compounds.

The ability to create trusted pathways between builders and capital providers can dramatically accelerate adoption and scale.

Pitchfire was incubated around that belief.

New North helped the company shape:

• its initial market positioning

• early network effects

• strategic partnerships

• first investor and founder relationships

• GTM traction

This is a company built around the power of relationships and trust at scale.

What Makes Great Incubation

At its core, great incubation is about people and patience.

It is the ability to recognize exceptional talent early.

It is the willingness to take risks before consensus forms.

It is the flexibility to allow each company to grow organically in its own way.

And most importantly, it is the commitment to stay alongside the founder.

We meet with our incubated companies every week.

We advise them.

We share networks.

We help them find first customers, first partners, and first believers.

Because the earliest stage is rarely linear.

The companies that endure are not always the ones with the perfect first idea.

They are the ones with the right people, the right support system, and the conviction to keep building.

At New North Ventures, that is what we aim to provide.

Capital is the first check.
Conviction is everything that comes after.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

Ukraine Moves to Replace Frontline Soldiers With 25,000 Ground Robots

Ukraine is rapidly scaling the automation of frontline operations, announcing plans to contract 25,000 ground robotic systems in the first half of 2026 alone. This is more than double the total procured in all of 2025. The stated goal from Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov is striking: 100% of frontline logistics to be handled by robotic systems, replacing soldiers in some of the most dangerous battlefield tasks.

The pace of adoption is already accelerating. Ukrainian forces executed more than 9,000 logistics and evacuation missions using ground robots in March alone, bringing the Q1 total to roughly 21,500 missions. These unmanned ground systems are now being used for supply transport, casualty evacuation, mine clearing, and combat support, helping reduce troop exposure amid continued manpower constraints. The ecosystem behind this shift has also expanded rapidly, with more than 280 companies and over 550 active robotic solutions supporting the effort.

This is no longer experimental technology, it is becoming operational doctrine. Ukraine has already reported what it describes as the first confirmed capture of a Russian position using only unmanned systems, without infantry involvement or losses, underscoring how quickly autonomous systems are moving from support roles into direct battlefield execution. The broader implication is clear: modern warfare is increasingly being defined by scalable, low cost autonomous systems that preserve human capital while expanding operational reach.

Terra Industries to build Africa’s largest drone factory in Ghana

Terra Industries is making a major bet on sovereign defense manufacturing in Africa, announcing plans to build the continent’s largest drone factory in Accra, Ghana. The new 34,000 sqft facility, Pax-2, is more than double the size of its existing Abuja plant and is expected to be operational by June 2026. Backed by a recent $34M capital raise, the factory is projected to scale to 50,000 aerial systems annually by 2028, spanning surveillance drones, tactical UAVs, and high speed interceptor systems designed for counter drone defense.

The bigger signal is strategic: autonomous systems manufacturing is becoming a regional industrial priority, not just a startup milestone. Terra’s expansion reflects growing demand for locally produced defense and security infrastructure across the continent, particularly as drone warfare and infrastructure protection become more urgent across the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa. The company says the new site will create 120 engineering jobs in Ghana, reinforcing that this is as much an industrial capacity story as it is a defense tech story. For investors and operators, the takeaway is clear: the global momentum behind scalable autonomous systems is no longer concentrated in the U.S., Europe, and Ukraine. New regional defense primes are emerging with manufacturing scale.

Introducing Saildrone Spectre: Next-generation USV for Anti-submarine Warfare and VLS Strike

Saildrone’s unveiling of Spectre, a 170ft unmanned surface vessel, marks a major leap in the militarization of autonomous maritime systems. Built for anti-submarine warfare, persistent ISR, and vertical launch strike missions, Spectre is the company’s largest and most capable platform to date, capable of speeds up to 30 knots, a range of 3,280 nautical miles, and payload capacity of roughly 55,000 pounds. Two variants underscore the flexibility of autonomy at sea: Silent Endurance, optimized for ultra quiet anti-submarine missions, and Stealth Strike, designed for higher speed, low profile kinetic operations.

The strategic significance is far bigger than a single platform. This is a clear signal that persistent unmanned autonomy is becoming core naval doctrine, not an experimental edge capability. Traditional warships are capital intensive, manpower heavy, and episodic in presence; autonomous vessels like Spectre enable continuous, distributed maritime operations at scale, keeping sensors, weapons, and decision support systems on station for far longer and with far less risk to personnel. In an era increasingly defined by contested waterways, submarine threats, and undersea infrastructure protection, unmanned maritime autonomy is emerging as one of the most important force multipliers in modern defense.

More links to explore:

• US firm’s autonomous electronic warfare tech can detect, neutralize threats in real time

• American shipyard moves to become seapower integrator

Beacon AI Snags $50M USSOCOM Aviation AI Contract

New North Ventures portfolio company Beacon AI secured a roughly $50M, four year contract with U.S. Special Operations Command to deploy its aviation AI pilot assistance platform across SOCOM and Air Force Special Operations Command aircraft fleets. The system acts as an in-cockpit AI assistant that ingests real time data like weather, routing, and mission inputs to reduce pilot workload, improve decision making, and enhance safety during high stress operations. The deal also includes a pathway to production deployment if performance targets are met and will initially focus on large mobility and transport aircraft such as tankers and cargo planes.

Leidos, Havoc integrate capabilities to advance maritime and air autonomy

Havoc AI, a New North Ventures portfolio company recently announced a partnership with Leidos to integrate their unmanned systems and collaborative autonomy software across maritime and air platforms, starting with Leidos’ Sea Archer vessel. The goal is to enable a single operator to coordinate fleets of autonomous surface and aerial systems acting together across contested, communications degraded environments. The companies plan a large scale operational demonstration in Q4 2026, showcasing how tightly integrated AI driven autonomy can accelerate deployment timelines, improve coordination, and support multi-domain missions spanning air, surface, and sub surface operations.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

HawkEye 360 Files for IPO

New North Ventures portfolio company HawkEye 360 has officially filed its S-1, marking a major milestone not just for the company, but for the broader defense tech ecosystem. The company, a pioneer in RF geospatial intelligence, has built a category defining platform that tracks and analyzes radio frequency signals from space, serving both government and commercial customers. This filing represents one of the clearest signals yet that dual-use companies can scale into public market ready businesses while maintaining deep ties to national security missions.

From an early-stage investor standpoint, this moment matters. For years, the biggest question around defense tech has been: what are the exits? HawkEye 360’s IPO trajectory helps answer that. It demonstrates that companies rooted in government demand, historically seen as slow, bureaucratic, or non-scalable, can in fact build durable, high growth businesses with diversified revenue streams. It also reinforces that technical moats in areas like space based sensing and data analytics are both defensible and valuable in public markets.

More broadly, this fits into a growing trend. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a steady drumbeat of defense and dual-use companies access the public markets, either through traditional IPOs or alternative paths. The signal to founders and investors is clear: the pathway from early stage innovation to liquidity is becoming more defined. This has the potential to unlock more capital and talent in the sector.

HawkEye 360

| Founded 2015 | Space Based RF Geospatial Intelligence | ~200+ Employees |

What they do

• Operates 30+ satellites that detect and geolocate radio frequency signals such as radars, jammers, satellite phones and ship transponders

• First commercialized space based SIGINT platform; meaningfully differentiated from imagery focused players like Planet or BlackSky

• Business model: data-as-a-service (subscriptions + analytics) with high gross margins on unclassified work products

• Capex intensity is decreasing as the constellation matures; targeting 30–40% YoY growth while maintaining profitability

Revenue mix:

U.S. Government (~50%)

• Customers include NGA, NRO, CIA, and combatant commands

• Short sales cycles, sometimes hours to get on contract

• Shorter contract terms; high volume of engagements

International (~50%)

• Allied nations across dozens of countries

• Longer sales cycles due to ITAR/FMS process, but stickier relationships and premium pricing

• $131M FMS deal with India for maritime domain awareness is a flagship example

Financing

• Series E at ~$2B valuation - $150M+ round co-led by NightDragon and Center15 Capital

• $173M total raised

• Revenue trajectory: $30.5M (2022) → $67.6M (2024) → $117.7M (2025)
  

  Sources: Pitchbook, S-1

Why it matters

• First company to operationalize large scale RF signal mapping from space at commercial scale

• Addresses a capability gap no imagery satellite can fill: signal detection vs. visual observation

• Crossed into profitability with a $303M backlog representing 6× growth

SBIR & STTR Reauthorization

Momentum is building around the signed reauthorization of the SBIR/STTR programs, one of the most important funding pipelines for early stage deep tech and defense startups. The program, which allocates billions annually across federal agencies, has long served as a non-dilutive bridge between research and commercialization. Recent commentary from policymakers emphasizes not just renewal, but modernization to ensure the program remains competitive in a rapidly evolving innovation landscape.

The data underscores its importance: SBIR/STTR collectively deploys over $4 billion per year into small businesses, often serving as the first institutional capital a startup receives. Increasingly, these dollars are flowing into dual-use technologies in AI, autonomy, space, advanced manufacturing that align with national security priorities. Reauthorization provides continuity, but the real opportunity lies in improving transition rates from Phase I/II funding into procurement and scaled deployment.

The Evolution of Modern Weapon Systems

The timeline of modern military systems highlights both strength and inertia. Many of today’s core platforms such as bombers, fighters, and transport aircraft were originally designed decades ago and have been continuously upgraded to stay relevant. That longevity speaks to incredible engineering, but it also masks how slowly entirely new systems have been fielded.

Recent commentary from defense leaders underscores a growing realization: in a world of peer competition, electronic warfare and autonomous systems, iteration speed matters as much as capability. The challenge isn’t that the U.S. lacks advanced tech, it’s that adversaries are moving faster, deploying newer systems, with compressed timelines and in ways that traditional acquisition hasn’t kept pace with.

What’s changing now is the shift toward speed as a core advantage. Autonomous systems, software defined platforms, and modular architectures are enabling faster deployment and continuous upgrades. The future isn’t about replacing every legacy system overnight, it’s about building a force that can adapt in real time, with innovation cycles measured in months, not decades (Timeline by Pete Modigliani).

More links to explore:

• SpaceX isn’t the only defense tech IPO that VCs should care about

• After Swarmer’s Soaring Debut, Here Are 12 Other Potential Defense Tech IPOs

Auriga Space charges up the launch game

Auriga Space is pushing forward on a critical bottleneck in the space economy: responsive and flexible launch infrastructure. The company is developing mobile launch capabilities designed to increase cadence and reduce dependency on fixed launch sites. This is an increasingly important factor as demand for satellite deployment continues to rise.

Recent progress highlights growing momentum behind this model. As governments and commercial players alike seek more resilient space architectures, the ability to launch quickly, from multiple locations, becomes a strategic advantage. Auriga is positioning itself squarely at that intersection, helping enable a more dynamic and responsive space ecosystem.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

The special edition of this weeks newsletter dives into New England and why it is a hidden gem for dual-use investing, company building and early stage innovation. Elite universities like MIT, Harvard, and WPI are churning out talent and spinning out companies, while accelerators and defense focused investors are ready to back them. The coastline and maritime testing grounds, anchored by assets like NUWC Newport, give hardware heavy technologies a rare place to prove themselves in real operational environments. Nowhere else can you go from lab bench to open water prototype with this much infrastructure, talent, and institutional firepower packed into one region.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory laser communications terminal launches on historic Artemis II Moon mission

NASA’s Artemis II mission is pushing the boundaries of how we communicate in space, this time with cutting edge laser technology designed to transmit data faster and more efficiently than ever before. At the center of this breakthrough is research coming out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where engineers are developing advanced optical communication systems that could dramatically improve how spacecraft send information back to Earth. Compared to traditional radio signals, laser based systems offer significantly higher data rates, enabling clearer images, faster transmission, and more robust deep space connectivity.

What makes this even more compelling is how close to home this innovation really is. With NASA partnering alongside leading institutions in New England, the region continues to cement itself as a hub for frontier technology with real national and global impact. From space exploration to dual-use innovation, the same ecosystem driving breakthroughs in orbit is also shaping the next generation of defense and commercial technologies right here in our backyard.

MRECo Develops Two Marine Energy Test Sites in Massachusetts

The Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative of New England is expanding critical infrastructure to accelerate the development of ocean based energy technologies, with two new testing sites in Massachusetts. Located in the Cape Cod Canal and off Cuttyhunk Island, these sites are designed to give startups and researchers a real world environment to test tidal, wave, and marine sensor technologies. With built in access to power, data, and monitoring systems, the facilities aim to make testing faster, safer, and more commercially viable.

What stands out is that this innovation ecosystem is being built right here in New England. Backed by initiatives like the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s Ocean Innovation Network, these efforts are positioning the region as a national leader in ocean tech and clean energy commercialization. For founders and investors alike, it’s another example of how New England continues to turn deep technical research into real world deployment opportunities.

New England governors announce joint support for nuclear energy

Governors across all six New England states have announced a coordinated push to support the future of nuclear energy, signaling a major regional shift in how the grid will be powered over the coming decades. In a bipartisan agreement, state leaders committed to both maintaining existing nuclear facilities, like Seabrook in New Hampshire, and exploring next generation reactor technologies to meet rising electricity demand, which is projected to grow more than 40% in the region.

The effort goes beyond policy signaling, it lays the groundwork for deployment. Governors are directing state energy agencies to evaluate advanced nuclear technologies, financing models, and public-private partnerships, while ensuring local communities play a central role in siting decisions. For New England, this is happening right in our backyard: a coordinated, multi-state approach to energy resilience that positions the region as a leader in next generation nuclear, grid reliability, and long term economic growth.

More links to explore:

• 2026 Northeast National Security Conference

• BasisTech Demo Day April 2026

• MassChallenge NATO DIANA Cohort - Boston MA

• Shout out to the team behind the Harvard / MIT 2026 Technology and National Security Conference for putting on another incredible event last weekend!

Pitchfire, based in New Hampshire and incubated within New North Ventures, has now launched into market! The team is in the process of onboarding investors that are looking to streamline their workflow from deal intake through investment. This platform allows VC funds to automate their deck ingest, analysis and decision making for due diligence on companies. Reach out if you would like to set up a demo and explore the platform!

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

NASA is set to launch Artemis II on April 1, marking the first crewed mission to the Moon’s vicinity in over 50 years and a defining moment in the next era of space exploration. The mission will send four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft on a ~10 day journey, launching atop the Space Launch System (SLS) from Kennedy Space Center. This milestone builds on the successful uncrewed Artemis I test and represents a major validation of deep space human flight capabilities at a time when geopolitical competition in space is accelerating.

Unlike the Apollo-era landings, Artemis II is designed as a systems validation mission. Rather than a touchdown it will execute a lunar flyby using a “free-return” trajectory around the Moon before returning to Earth. The mission will test critical infrastructure including life support, propulsion, communications, and heat shield performance during high speed reentry. These capabilities are essential for sustained lunar operations and future Mars missions. It also carries symbolic weight, with the first woman, first Black astronaut, and first Canadian traveling this far into deep space.

For defense tech investors, Artemis II underscores the growing strategic importance of space as both a commercial frontier and a national security domain. The program is catalyzing investment across launch systems, in-space logistics, communications, and dual-use infrastructure, while reinforcing public-private partnerships with primes. As the U.S. pushes toward a sustained lunar presence and cislunar economy, Artemis is not just a scientific mission, it’s a signal that space is rapidly becoming a core theater for technological advantage and geopolitical competition.

Seattle startup Starcloud hits $1.1B valuation to build space-based data centers

A couple weeks ago, we highlighted the rise of defense tech unicorns. Now, as space takes center stage, it’s worth adding a new name to that list that could serve both private and public customers: Starcloud.

The Seattle area startup has rapidly reached a $1.1B valuation after raising $170M, becoming one of the fastest companies in Y Combinator history to hit unicorn status. Its core thesis is bold: build solar powered data centers in orbit to meet the explosive demand for AI compute, leveraging abundant energy in space and avoiding terrestrial constraints like power, land, and cooling. Early demonstrations, including launching satellites equipped with advanced GPUs, signal that in-space computing is moving from concept to reality.

For investors, Starcloud reflects a broader shift where AI infrastructure, energy, and space are converging into a new strategic frontier. With plans for massive satellite constellations and partnerships across major tech players, orbital compute could redefine how and where data is processed, especially for defense, intelligence, and latency sensitive applications. While technical and cost hurdles remain, the speed of capital formation and ambition in this category suggest that space-based infrastructure is quickly moving from edge case to core investment theme.

China Advances Space Servicing with Robotic Refueling Breakthrough

China’s recent progress in orbital servicing highlights a rapidly maturing capability that could reshape how space assets are operated and sustained. Chinese researchers have tested robotic systems designed for on-orbit refueling, using flexible robotic arms and autonomous docking techniques to simulate fuel transfer and spacecraft servicing in orbit. These systems are aimed at extending satellite lifespans, reducing replacement costs, and enabling more persistent infrastructure in space, from navigation and communications satellites to potential deep space assets.

The strategic significance of this development goes well beyond engineering. On orbit refueling and servicing are foundational to building a truly scalable space economy, where spacecraft can be repaired, upgraded, and refueled rather than discarded. If China operationalizes these capabilities at scale, it would materially shift the balance of endurance, cost efficiency, and operational tempo in space. That is why continued U.S. leadership in space innovation is critical: control over in orbit servicing, logistics, and infrastructure will define not just commercial advantage, but also military and intelligence superiority in an era where space is becoming a contested domain alongside land, sea, air, and cyber.

More links to explore:

• Navy creating new marketplace for maritime drones as it looks to ‘surge capacity’ for Golden Fleet

• Air Force Seeks Suppliers to Deliver on Nuclear Micro-Reactor Goals

Psionic and Gambit have announced a strategic partnership to advance resilient collaborative autonomy. This capability is aimed at enabling groups of autonomous systems, such as drones, ground vehicles, and distributed sensors, to operate together as coordinated, intelligent networks. The collaboration focuses on integrating Psionic’s precision sensing and timing technologies with Gambit’s multi-agent autonomy software to improve how machines perceive, communicate, and execute missions in contested or degraded environments. The goal is to reduce reliance on constant human control by enabling systems to self-coordinate in real time while maintaining reliability, security, and mission resilience.

For defense and dual-use markets, the partnership reflects a broader shift toward networked autonomy as a force multiplier, where individual platforms are less important than the collective behavior of systems working together. By improving synchronization and decision making across distributed assets, the technology supports applications ranging from contested logistics and ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) to first responder and defense operations. The emphasis on resilience is especially important in environments where electronic warfare, jamming, or communications disruption can degrade traditional command-and-control structures.

HawkEye 360 has announced the formation of its first International Advisory Board, designed to deepen its engagement with allied governments and strengthen its role in supporting global security missions. The board will provide strategic insight into regional defense priorities and operational needs across key international theaters, helping the company better align its commercial signals intelligence capabilities with the requirements of U.S. allies. It will be chaired by veteran national security leader Richard A. Clarke and include senior figures such as Kurt M. Campbell and Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery (ret.), reflecting a strong focus on diplomacy, defense strategy, and intelligence cooperation.

More broadly, the move underscores HawkEye 360’s positioning as a key provider of space based RF intelligence used for maritime, air, and land domain awareness. Company leadership emphasized that the advisory board will help strengthen collaboration with allied partners as demand grows for persistent, space enabled monitoring of the electromagnetic spectrum. The initiative reflects a wider industry trend. As geopolitical competition intensifies, commercial space sensing and intelligence firms are increasingly being integrated into national security architectures to improve decision making speed and situational awareness.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

FAA seeks input on drone integration at airports

The Federal Aviation Administration is stepping up efforts to integrate drones (unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS) into airport environments, one of the most complex and high stakes areas of the national airspace.

At a high level, the FAA is actively gathering input from airports, drone operators, manufacturers, and other stakeholders to better understand how drones are currently being used in and around airports, as well as what infrastructure and standards are still needed. This includes exploring concepts like “droneports” (dedicated areas for drone operations), new design requirements, and how existing airport layouts may need to evolve to safely accommodate both manned and unmanned aircraft.

A central challenge is safety and coordination. Airports are already tightly managed environments, and introducing drones adds complexity around collision avoidance, airspace management, and operational procedures. The FAA is using this research to inform future policy, guidance, and potentially formal standards to ensure drones can operate alongside traditional aviation without increasing risk.

Zooming out, this effort reflects a broader push by the FAA to modernize the airspace system and enable more advanced drone operations, including beyond visual line of sight flights and scaled commercial use. But progress remains iterative: the agency is balancing innovation with its core mandate of safety, meaning integration will likely continue to roll out gradually as technologies, regulations, and infrastructure mature.

Are you an aviation stakeholder? ( e.g., airport/droneport operator, private entity, original equipment manufacturer, unmanned aircraft system (UAS) industry vendor, academia, representatives of the military, etc.) You can send written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection. More information on where to address your comments to HERE.

No Magnets, No Drones: China’s Strategy for Shaping Tomorrow’s Battlefield

Modern warfare is increasingly defined by drones, but beneath that shift lies a largely overlooked dependency: rare earth magnets. These components are essential for drone motors, missile guidance systems, and other advanced defense technologies, yet roughly 90–95% of global processing capacity is controlled by China. As a result, even Western and Ukrainian defense systems rely heavily on Chinese sourced materials, creating a critical supply chain vulnerability that could be exploited geopolitically.

This dependency is becoming more urgent as drone usage scales rapidly. Ukraine alone has produced over a million drones annually, with drones accounting for the majority of frontline strikes. In response, the U.S. is moving to ban Chinese origin rare earth materials in defense systems by 2027, accelerating the need for domestic alternatives. Companies like REalloys are positioning themselves to fill this gap by building end t -end, China independent supply chains for rare earth processing and magnet production. The broader takeaway: control over upstream materials may ultimately determine military advantage in the next generation of conflict.

Inside the high-stakes US defence system tracking Iran missiles and drones

The U.S. Department of Defense is relying on a highly coordinated, multi layered defense network to detect and track Iranian missiles and drones in real time, reflecting the growing intensity of threats across the Middle East. The system begins in space, where infrared satellites identify missile launches within seconds, before handing off to ground based radars that track trajectories and predict impact points. This data is then shared across a distributed network that includes naval vessels, airborne surveillance platforms, and regional command centers, creating a continuous, integrated picture of the battlespace designed to enable rapid interception and response.

However, this system is under increasing strain as threats evolve particularly from low cost Iranian drones, which are harder to detect due to their low heat signatures, small size, and ability to fly at low altitudes. Recent strikes on key radar infrastructure have further exposed vulnerabilities, forcing the U.S. to shift and reinforce coverage with mobile assets like ships and aircraft. The broader takeaway: while the U.S. maintains a technological edge in missile detection and tracking, the rise of cheaper, harder to detect drone swarms is challenging traditional defense architectures and forcing a rapid adaptation toward more flexible, resilient systems.

More links to explore:

• Jeff Bezos reportedly wants $100 billion to buy and transform old manufacturing firms with AI

• Companies Set to Win as States Vie to Host Nuclear Campuses

Link Labs Assets Now Tracked Globally Through Hubble Network

Hubble Network announced it can now track Link Labs’ assets globally using its Bluetooth-based network. It leverages over 90 million terrestrial Bluetooth gateways plus emerging satellite connectivity to extend coverage into remote areas.

Together, this enables near-global tracking of Bluetooth-enabled devices without relying on GPS or cellular service, improving visibility for logistics and asset monitoring worldwide.

Founded in 2021, Hubble Network operates a global network of more than 90 million terrestrial Bluetooth® gateways, with satellite connectivity expanding coverage to remote and off-grid environments. For more information, visit hubble.com.

UND Signs Memo of Understanding to Advance Hypersonics, other Technologies

University of North Dakota has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Auriga Space to collaborate on advancing electromagnetic launch technologies for national security applications. The partnership focuses on using Auriga’s electric, magnetically driven launch system, an alternative to chemical rockets, to support research and development in hypersonics, counter unmanned aerial systems (counter-UAS), and space related missions.

Auriga Space develops electromagnetic launch systems that accelerate payloads using linear electric motor technology rather than traditional rocket propulsion. The company’s approach enables low cost, repeatable, high cadence launch capabilities that could improve hypersonic testing and enable more rapid space access. Through the MOU, UND and Auriga will explore how this technology can be integrated into broader defense and research efforts, leveraging UND’s existing strengths in aerospace and national security programs.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

The defense tech ecosystem continues to mature and we developed this chart to make it clear just how far it’s come. With the most recent addition of Defense Unicorns to the list in January 2026, the U.S. now has a deep and diverse bench of $1B+ defense companies spanning AI, autonomy, manufacturing, and space. What was once a fragmented category is now a real market with density, repeat founders, and increasingly clear platform winners.

What’s notable isn’t just the number of companies, it’s the convergence. Players like Palantir Technologies and Scale AI define the AI/data layer, while Anduril Industries, Shield AI, and Skydio push autonomy forward. Meanwhile, companies like SpaceX and HawkEye 360 anchor the space and intel layer. This stack is starting to look less like a collection of startups and more like the foundation of a new defense industrial base.

For early stage investors, this landscape is more than a scoreboard, it’s a signal map. These unicorns show where real demand exists inside the Department of War and where budgets are actually getting deployed. Just as importantly, they represent the next generation of acquirers. Tracking what these companies prioritize, whether it’s AI infrastructure, edge compute, autonomy, or manufacturing, offers a forward looking view into M&A pathways and platform consolidation.

The takeaway: pay attention to this layer. Founders should build toward it. Investors should underwrite against it. And as each new company crosses the $1B threshold, it’s worth recognizing, not just as a milestone, but as another node strengthening the defense innovation ecosystem.

Nvidia announces Vera Rubin Space-1 chip system for orbital AI data centers

Nvidia’s latest push into orbital computing signals that space is no longer just a sensing layer, it’s becoming a compute layer. At its GTC event, CEO Jensen Huang unveiled space ready AI chips and systems designed to power data centers in orbit, with dramatically higher performance for in space inference and autonomous operations. The move builds on early proof points already happening: Nvidia powered satellites have successfully run and even trained AI models in orbit, demonstrating that “data center class” compute can operate off world. Together, this marks a shift from simply collecting data in space and sending it to Earth, to processing it directly in orbit.

This unlocks space data centers as a fundamentally new domain because it breaks the core bottlenecks of terrestrial AI infrastructure: energy, latency, and scale. Space offers effectively unlimited solar power and natural cooling dynamics, while enabling real time processing of satellite data without the need to downlink massive datasets. Just as importantly, it creates a new layer of infrastructure for autonomous systems where satellites, drones, and other edge assets can plug into orbital compute as part of a distributed “space cloud.” In that sense, Nvidia isn’t just launching chips, it’s helping define a new strategic domain where compute itself becomes geographically decoupled from Earth, with implications across defense, communications, and global AI competition.

New Space Force acquisition portfolios include space control, orbital warfare

The U.S. Space Force has finalized its mission focused acquisition portfolio structure under the Pentagon’s broader acquisition reform initiative, officially establishing offices dedicated to key warfighting domains as part of its acquisition modernization effort. Tom Ainsworth, performing the duties of the Air Force assistant secretary for Space Acquisition and Integration, announced that of the seven planned portfolio acquisition executive (PAE) offices, four are now formally stood up. These PAEs are designed to better align space acquisition with operational priorities, from sensing and targeting to communications and missile tracking. This enables joint data networks, battle management, and integrated cislunar capabilities through close cooperation with agencies like NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Four established Space Force PAEs:

• Missile Warning and Tracking – manages constellations across all orbital regimes.

• Infrastructure – responsible for data management, training/test capabilities, and personnel systems.

• Battle Management, Command & Control, Communications & Space Intelligence handles networks, intelligence, and space domain awareness.

• Satellite Communication and Position, Navigation & Timing – oversees military and commercial programs for SATCOM and PNT.

More links to explore:

• Robosys launches AI simulator for autonomous vessel testing

• Iran-linked hackers tied to cyberattack on US company Stryker

Havoc Advances All-Domain Collaborative Autonomy Through Acquisitions of Mavrik and Teleo

Havoc is rapidly positioning itself as a leading “all-domain” autonomy platform by expanding beyond its roots in maritime systems into air and ground operations. Through the acquisitions of drone company Mavrik and autonomous heavy machinery firm Teleo, the company is building a unified software stack that allows a single operator to control and coordinate fleets of autonomous systems across sea, air, and land in real time. The goal is to replace siloed, domain specific tools with a single interface where heterogeneous assets can operate as a synchronized, collaborative force.

At the core of this strategy is “supervised autonomy” keeping humans in the loop while enabling one operator to oversee many machines simultaneously. This model addresses both operational efficiency and safety concerns, and has already been demonstrated at scale in maritime environments. Backed by significant venture funding and growing demand from defense and commercial customers, Havoc’s expansion reflects a broader shift toward integrated, AI driven autonomy systems that can deliver coordinated, multi domain capabilities and potentially redefine how both militaries and industrial operators deploy autonomous fleets.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work.

Subscribe now

Pentagon Employees Can Create Their Own Custom AI Assistants

The U.S. Department of War has introduced a new “Agent Designer” capability on its enterprise AI platform, GenAI.mil, allowing personnel across the department to build custom AI assistants tailored to their specific workflows. The tool integrates Google’s Gemini models and is designed to be accessible even to users without coding experience. With it, the Pentagon’s roughly 3 million military and civilian employees can create AI agents capable of performing multi step tasks, ingesting different data sources, and automating complex processes across mission areas. Examples include generating after action reports, turning imagery into analytical memos, or building applications to analyze financial and logistics data.

The rollout is part of a broader push by the Pentagon to accelerate AI adoption across both operational and administrative functions. Since launching in late 2025, GenAI.mil has become the department’s central generative AI platform, incorporating commercial frontier models from companies such as Google, with additional tools from OpenAI and xAI expected to be integrated. The effort underscores the Pentagon’s strategy to rapidly deploy commercial AI capabilities across the force, even as tensions with AI vendor Anthropic have escalated into a legal dispute after the company was designated a supply chain risk and barred from the platform.

Mastercard Brings Agentic Payments to Life in Singapore With DBS and UOB

Mastercard has taken a major step toward “agentic commerce” with the completion of its first live AI initiated payment transaction in Singapore, in partnership with two major banks, DBS Bank and United Overseas Bank (UOB). In the demonstration, an AI agent automatically booked a ride to Singapore’s Changi Airport through a mobility provider, initiating and completing the payment without a human clicking “confirm.” The transaction was enabled by Mastercard’s Agent Pay framework, which uses tokenized credentials, dedicated “agentic tokens,” and passkey authentication to verify identity and ensure that the consumer has explicitly authorized the AI agent to act on their behalf.

The pilot illustrates how AI agents could soon handle routine purchases, such as travel bookings, transportation, or retail transactions, while financial institutions provide the security and authentication layers needed to maintain trust. Mastercard is positioning Singapore as a hub for this shift, launching an AI Centre of Excellence and working with banks and merchants to build infrastructure for AI driven payments across the Asia Pacific region. The move signals a broader trend: as AI systems evolve from assistants into autonomous actors, financial networks are racing to create the rails that allow those agents to safely transact in the real economy.

YouTube expands AI deepfake detection to politicians, government officials etc

YouTube is expanding its AI driven deepfake detection capabilities to a new pilot group that includes government officials, political candidates, and journalists. The platform’s “likeness detection” tool, which functions similarly to its Content ID system but for identifying synthetic media, first rolled out to millions of creators last year. Now, eligible public figures can upload verified identity information and then review videos that the system flags as potentially AI generated impersonations of their likeness, with the option to request removal if the content violates YouTube’s policies.

While the technology aims to help protect individuals from unauthorized AI impersonation and misinformation, YouTube stresses that not all flagged content will be removed. The company is also advocating for broader regulatory frameworks like the NO FAKES Act to establish clearer legal protections against deceptive AI media. This expansion reflects growing industry efforts to address the risks posed by sophisticated AI deepfakes in public discourse and information ecosystems.

More links to explore:

• New England National Security Conference June 3, 2026

• The New White Collar Moat In AI

Trump’s New National Cyber Strategy and the Threat of Inconsistent Defense

New North Ventures portfolio company, CrunchAtlas, is focused on enabling proactive cyber defense for some of the most vulnerable parts of America’s critical infrastructure including small and independently operated utilities. Rather than relying on expensive, outsourced security operations centers, the company is building technology that allows utilities to conduct their own cyber threat hunting and defensive operations in a self contained environment. The platform is designed to make sophisticated cyber capabilities accessible and affordable for organizations that traditionally lack the budget or personnel for enterprise grade security. By giving utilities the tools to detect adversaries, collaborate with peers, and operate independently, CrunchAtlas helps shift cybersecurity from a reactive compliance exercise to an operational capability that can be deployed directly by the organizations responsible for running essential infrastructure.

The direction CrunchAtlas is taking aligns closely with the themes emerging from President Donald Trump’s new national cyber strategy. The strategy emphasizes a more proactive and aggressive cyber posture, including the use of offensive cyber capabilities, stronger public private collaboration, and new technologies to secure critical infrastructure such as energy systems. It also highlights the need to empower industry and deploy advanced tools to detect and disrupt adversaries faster. In that context, solutions that allow infrastructure operators themselves to hunt threats and harden their networks are increasingly important. The challenge with cybersecurity for decentralized utilities has never been awareness, it’s cost, talent, and implementation. By making advanced cyber capabilities accessible and self contained, CrunchAtlas is addressing exactly the gap policymakers are now trying to close: enabling the private sector operators of critical infrastructure to become active participants in defending the nation’s cyber terrain.

How to Evaluate Deepfake Detection for Enterprise Use

Reality Defender, a North Ventures portfolio company, is at the forefront of combating the rising threat of AI generated deepfake media by providing advanced detection tools used in real world production environments. The company’s platform uses a multi model, machine learning approach to analyze audio, video, and images for subtle manipulation signals, allowing enterprises, governments, and critical institutions to identify synthetic or manipulated media before it can influence decisions or be used in fraud and impersonation attacks. Reality Defender’s technology supports real time detection in workflows such as secure communications, contact center authentication, and content verification, routing actionable signals into existing security and operational systems so teams can respond effectively. With offerings that include APIs, SDKs, and scalable deployment options, the company has built solutions designed to integrate directly into business systems where trust and identity verification are essential, helping organizations stay ahead of evolving deepfake threats.

Growth Capital Podcast recently featured New North Ventures Partner Bryan Mabry.
Dual-use isn’t about politics, it’s about optionality. Companies that serve both commercial and government markets often see stronger valuations, more resilience to budget shifts, and less exposure to procurement delays.
The conversation also highlights the risks and benefits of pursuing a dual-use strategy as an early stage founder.

Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/e5iEjnXY

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

New Hampshire Positions Itself as New England’s Nuclear Innovation Hub

A significant opportunity is taking shape in the Northeast and a New North Ventures portfolio company is helping New Hampshire seize it.

StarCube is spearheading an effort to position New Hampshire as a respondent to the Department of Energy’s new Request for Information on nuclear innovation campuses. The DOE is actively soliciting state level interest to identify where the next generation of nuclear development, research, and workforce infrastructure should be anchored and StarCube is making the case that New Hampshire belongs on that shortlist.

To build the broadest possible coalition, StarCube has launched a dedicated hub at newenglandnuclear.org/nh-rfi to connect businesses, organizations, and individuals across the advanced nuclear, legacy nuclear, workforce development, nuclear waste management, and clean energy sectors. The effort reflects a core insight this community understands well: the line between energy security and national security is not a line at all.

The strategic rationale is compelling. New Hampshire is the only state in New England that currently permits new nuclear development, a regulatory posture that makes it uniquely positioned to attract the kind of long horizon investment and federal partnership that advanced nuclear requires. That matters beyond state borders: the ISO NE grid serves all of New England and ranks among the most expensive electricity markets in the United States. New nuclear capacity developed in New Hampshire won’t just serve local ratepayers, it will provide meaningful price relief across the region while strengthening grid resilience at a time when energy reliability has become a serious security consideration.

If your company or organization wants to engage, the call to action is straightforward. Review the DOE RFI directly at sam.gov, and join the coalition StarCube is assembling at newenglandnuclear.org/nh-rfi. The window to shape New England’s energy and security future is open and New Hampshire is moving. Interested in learning more? Reach out!

The Next Theater of Competition Is the Water and the UK Knows It

A development out of the United Kingdom this week deserves more attention than it will likely receive in American defense and technology circles. Babcock has partnered with Tech Southwest to launch a National Marine Autonomy Accelerator, focused specifically on high growth companies working in autonomous marine systems and technologies. oceannews

This is not a generalist startup program with a maritime veneer. It is launching just months after Plymouth was designated as the UK’s National Centre for Marine Autonomy, and the Southwest of England is increasingly being recognized as the UK’s leading hub for advanced marine technologies. The British government and its defense industrial base are deliberately concentrating capability, geographic, institutional, and financial around a domain that is moving faster than most traditional procurement systems can track.

Maritime autonomy sits squarely in the dual-use space this community watches closely. Uncrewed surface vessels, autonomous underwater systems, AI enabled maritime domain awareness are just some technologies that have obvious commercial applications and equally strong national security implications. Babcock’s Global Technology Director stated the intent is to build the accelerator to support and ultimately integrate the most forward thinking SMEs into the wider capabilities delivered for defense customers. oceannews

The program culminates in an Investor Day in October 2026 and is open not only to companies already operating in the marine sector, but also to those looking to move into this high growth area. The UK is not just organizing its existing maritime tech base, it is actively recruiting new entrants into the sector, betting that the opportunity is large enough to expand the talent pool rather than simply sort it.

For American companies and investors operating in maritime autonomy, uncrewed systems, or adjacent dual-use technologies, the implications run in two directions. First, this is a signal worth calibrating against: a close ally is institutionalizing its advantage in a domain where competition, including from near peer adversaries, is intensifying rapidly. Second, it is a partnership opportunity. The accelerator’s structure, its connection to Babcock’s defense relationships, and the University of Plymouth’s research capabilities create genuine transatlantic engagement pathways for U.S. firms thinking seriously about allied market access and co-development.

The details and application information are available at techsouthwest.co.uk/growth-forge. If maritime autonomy is in your portfolio or your strategy, this is one to watch.

Why Iran: The Asymmetric Shield

Iran's military strategy was never about matching the US plane-for-plane. Instead, Tehran built an arsenal of thousands of low cost drones, 3,000+ ballistic missiles, and a regional proxy network, asymmetric capabilities designed to create a conventional shield dense enough to make any strike on its nuclear program too costly to attempt. Cheap drones that overwhelm advanced air defenses through sheer volume, raising the price of intervention while nuclear development proceeds behind the curtain.

The February 2026 US-Israel operations are designed to dismantle that shield and the program behind it simultaneously, without ground forces. The campaign is layered: kinetic strikes against air defenses, missile sites, and command and control, combined with cyber operations and electronic warfare targeting Iran's communications and launch infrastructure. It's a case study in how modern conflict increasingly relies on standoff precision, signals disruption, and domain convergence rather than traditional occupation.

Hamlet Yousef mentioned an often overlooked dimension: a 2022 Middle East Institute paper documents how the IRGC's senior ranks are increasingly shaped by Mahdist ideology, which frames the missile program, militia network, and nuclear pursuit not as separate policy tracks but as pillars of a single mission. Western analysts have largely treated Iran's behavior as rational state interest. The MEI researchers argue that's an incomplete picture and one reason the asymmetric buildup has been so persistent despite decades of sanctions.

Source: MEI "Iran's Revolutionary Guard and the Rising Cult of Mahdism" (Golkar & Aarabi, 2022)

More links to explore:

• [Virtual Event] Shields Up: Key Technologies Reshaping Cybersecurity Defenses Mar 19, 2026

• Why California is Reconsidering Nuclear Energy After 50-Year Ban

• Boston Tech Week is Coming Soon May 26-31

CYBERA’s Recorded Future Partnership

Big news from one of our portfolio companies. Recorded Future has expanded its payment fraud prevention capabilities through a partnership with CYBERA, integrating CYBERA’s Money Mule Intelligence directly into the Recorded Future Platform recordedfuture. This puts CYBERA’s technology in front of one of the most respected names in threat intelligence. The timing couldn’t be better: APP fraud losses in the U.S. are projected to reach nearly $15 billion by 2028, and regulators are increasingly shifting liability to banks that fail to detect mule accounts recordedfuture, creating urgent and growing demand for CYBERA’s technology. Unlike probabilistic risk scoring, CYBERA verifies each account with evidence and contextual metadata, and large financial institutions have already prevented multiple six-figure losses by embedding CYBERA’s intelligence into their transaction monitoring workflows. With a Recorded Future partnership on the books, Mastercard Start Path membership secured, and enterprise wins already on the board, CYBERA is heading into its Series A raise with the kind of proof points that make the conversation very different.

HawkEye 360 Expands Partnership with European MoD Clients

HawkEye 360 has been selected by a European Ministry of Defense for an electronic warfare program valued at up to $75 million. This contract reflects both the company’s deepening international footprint and the broader surge in European defense investment following years of underinvestment in sovereign ISR capability. Under the contract, HawkEye 360 will deliver subscriptions to its Air Defense and GPS Interference Monitoring services, enabling the customer to monitor and assess activity across areas of interest. This win follows a string of recent contract actions including a U.S. Navy renewal focused on Indo-Pacific maritime domain awareness and an NRO selection for tactical RF data and analytics, cementing HawkEye 360’s position as the go-to commercial provider for space based signals intelligence on both sides of the Atlantic.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Army Bets on Scale and a Free Market to Close the Drone Gap

At the conclusion of the Army’s inaugural Best Drone Warfighter Competition, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll outlined an ambitious vision for rapidly expanding America’s drone capabilities. Central to that goal is a fundamental cultural shift, drones should no longer be treated as accountable equipment signed out of an arms room, but as expendable ammunition consumed in the field. For investors and founders, that reclassification matters: it signals a move toward high volume, low cost, attritable systems rather than expensive long lifecycle platforms.

The Army is also launching a soldier rated drone marketplace next month, allowing private companies to sell directly to units, with open competition expected to drive prices down and quality up. This is an unusually direct path to Department of War adoption for startups, one that bypasses much of the bureaucratic friction that has historically made defense a difficult market to enter.

A few numbers worth noting:

• 1 million drones targeted for procurement within 18-24 months

• 5 to 15 million drones China produces annually. US is racing to close this gap

• 200+ soldiers competed in the inaugural Best Drone Warfighter Competition

The broader takeaway for capital allocators and founders: the drone market is no longer speculative, it is a stated national priority with procurement architecture being purpose built around speed and volume. The whitespace isn’t just in the drones themselves, but across the full stack: manufacturing scale up, counter drone systems, AI-enabled autonomy, logistics software, and training platforms. The Army wants partners who can move fast and iterate in near real time. That’s a startup friendly posture worth paying close attention to.

Energy Departments team up to advance future of nuclear power, military base energy security

In a striking demonstration of where defense energy policy is heading, the U.S. Air Force loaded a next generation nuclear reactor, the Ward 250 a 5 MW unit small enough to fit inside a C-17 cargo aircraft, and flew it to Hill Air Force Base Utah for testing and evaluation. The joint operation between the Departments of War and Energy, dubbed Operation Windlord, is part of a broader push to build energy infrastructure that doesn’t depend on the civilian power grid. The rationale is straightforward: the future of warfare is extraordinarily energy intensive, spanning AI data centers, directed energy weapons, space systems, and cyber infrastructure. The commercial grid simply wasn’t built to support it.

The policy tailwind here is significant. President Trump signed four executive orders in May 2025 specifically targeting nuclear energy modernization, streamlining reactor testing, reforming the NRC, and directing advanced reactors toward national security applications. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has stated publicly that the administration expects three small reactors to be operational by July 4th of this year. The message from Washington is clear: the nuclear industrial base is being deliberately reactivated, with private capital and American innovation as the engine.

For investors and founders, this is the moment that micro and small modular nuclear has been waiting for. The military is the ideal first customer. It has the budget, the urgency, the regulatory runway, and a use case (energy independent forward bases) that makes the value proposition undeniable. But the implications extend well beyond defense. A reactor that can be airlifted and deployed anywhere is also a transformative asset for data centers, remote industrial operations, disaster recovery, and grid resilience. Companies building in this space, whether in reactor design, fuel supply, deployment logistics, or the regulatory and permitting stack, are operating in a market that now has explicit government backing, a defined procurement pathway, and a technology that the broader economy increasingly cannot afford to ignore.

More links to explore:

• Navy’s Future Fleet Hinges on Autonomy, Agility

• China’s mysterious Shenlong space plane recently launched on its 4th mission

• CNAS Insights | America Isn’t Ready for a Drone War

Cybera was selected for Mastercard's Start Path Security Solutions program, an accelerator focused on cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and digital identity. The company's agentic AI platform takes a proactive approach to fraud. Rather than acting after money has already moved, Cybera identifies verified mule accounts in advance so banks can block transactions before funds ever leave. The Mastercard partnership opens the door to thousands of financial institutions, expanding Cybera's reach at a time when AI enabled scams and real time payments are making fraud harder than ever to stop.

Anno.AI is building the Lake Superior Test Range, an ecosystem spanning Duluth, Lake Superior, and reclaimed Iron Range mines, designed for companies and defense partners to rigorously test AI enabled autonomous vehicles, aircraft, and maritime platforms. Anno.AI was recently selected for Phase I of the Department of War Drone Dominance Program. This is a fast paced acquisition effort to rapidly field low-cost, one-way attack drones at scale; the evaluation began Feb 18th at Fort Benning and will lead to roughly $150 million in prototype delivery orders, with the broader four phase, $1.1 billion initiative aiming to drive down costs, increase production, and field hundreds of thousands of weaponized drones by 2027.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Last week, New North Ventures convened 300 investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, academics, and government leaders for the 2026 Boston Innovation Summit. The gathering reflected a growing recognition that national security, economic competitiveness, and technological leadership are now inseparable and innovation increasingly happens at the seams between public and private sectors.

The Summit focused on dual-use technologies and systems-level challenges shaping the next decade: economic warfare and geofinance, maritime autonomy, cyber trust and disruption, and the pathways required to take frontier technologies from seed-stage ideas to scaled, mission-critical capabilities. Across fireside conversations, panels, and a startup showcase, one theme was consistent: the strategic environment has changed faster than our institutions, and capital, founders, and governments are being pulled onto the front lines whether they intend to be or not.

Fireside Chat: Michael Morell and Bryan Mabry

The day opened with a fireside conversation between former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell and Bryan Mabry, Partner at New North Ventures, setting the strategic tone for the Summit. Their discussion underscored how geopolitical competition is no longer defined solely by military strength, but by data, financial systems, technology platforms, and private-sector decision-making.

Morell emphasized that today’s intelligence and security challenges increasingly depend on capabilities developed outside government. Mabry reinforced that innovation velocity, not just scale, has become decisive. Together, they framed the core question that echoed throughout the day: how can democratic societies align capital, innovation, and policy quickly enough to compete in a world of persistent, sub-threshold conflict?

Panel: Economic Warfare & Geofinance

Moderator: Jason Wright (Steptoe LLP)

Panelists: Regina Abrami (UPenn), Matt Flug (Irregular Warfare Initiative), Eric Paley (MA Secretary of Economic Development)

This panel explored how economic power has become a primary domain of competition. Jason Wright opened by distinguishing economic warfare, the active use of tools like sanctions, export controls, and investment restrictions from geofinance, the underlying financial infrastructure and capital flows that shape outcomes long before a crisis is declared.

Matt Flug discussed sanctions and export controls as tools of irregular warfare, arguing that venture-backed companies operating in dual-use and national security-adjacent sectors must assume regulatory and national security obligations far earlier than founders historically have. Governance, compliance, and resilience are no longer optional — they are strategic design choices.

Professor Regina Abrami examined how allies and adversaries have adapted to U.S. trade and sanctions regimes. She highlighted that some adversaries have become more sophisticated in working around constraints, while allies increasingly feel strain from unilateral or poorly coordinated policies. For investors, her message was clear: geopolitical adaptation is now a core diligence factor.

Eric Paley brought the conversation home to Massachusetts, outlining how state-level economic development can serve as a resilience strategy. He pointed to initiatives like SHIELD and regional microelectronics coalitions as examples of how public-private partnerships can harden critical supply chains while accelerating innovation. The panel closed with a provocative question: if we are already in a financial conflict, what does “winning” actually look like and are we making dangerous assumptions about the durability of U.S. financial power?

Panel: AI on the High Seas — How Automation is Shaping Maritime Tech

Moderator: Kelley DeConciliis (VTG)

Panelists: Fred Pasquine (Fairlead), Zach Lyman (In-Q-Tel), Joe Turner (Havoc AI)

This panel examined maritime autonomy as both a commercial opportunity and a strategic necessity. Speakers highlighted how AI-driven systems are reshaping sensing, logistics, and operations in contested maritime environments, where scale and speed matter more than exquisite platforms.

The discussion emphasized the need for smaller, more numerous, and more autonomous systems to outpace adversaries, particularly in gray-zone and denied environments. Investors were urged to think beyond traditional defense primes and toward software-defined platforms, dual-use maritime data, and autonomy stacks that can transition between commercial and defense applications.

Startup Showcase

Four early-stage companies presented solutions at the intersection of security, infrastructure, and emerging technology:

• Endox — Building AI powered robotics in defense, logistics, and manufacturing to onshore critical industries. Endox was selected as the winner of the Startup Showcase via audience choice.

• Headlamp — Veteran workforce talent matching platform.

• Optica Labs — AI assurance layer that turns risk into acceleration.

• AtlasConnect — Gives VCs and startups investment infrastructure, from intaking to liquidity.

The showcase reinforced that some of the most impactful national security capabilities are being built by small teams operating well outside traditional defense pathways.

Panel: From Seed to Scale — How Investors Fuel Dual-Use Startups

Moderator: Marc Nichols (DLA Piper)

Panelists: Cait Brumme (MassChallenge), Sam Spencer Pitman (Army Applications Lab / Army FUZE)

This panel focused on the capital and institutional pathways required to scale dual-use companies. Speakers highlighted the persistent gap between early technical validation and large-scale government adoption.

Cait Brumme discussed the role of accelerators and innovation hubs in de-risking early-stage companies, while Sam Spencer Pitman provided insight into how programs like Army FUZE help startups navigate defense customers without losing commercial momentum. The takeaway for founders: success requires fluency in both venture and government ecosystems and investors who understand the timeline mismatches between them.

Panel: Cyber Trust and Disruption — How Collaboration Secures Infrastructure

Moderator: Jeremy Hitchcock (New North Ventures)

Panelists: Michael Madon (ABCorp, former U.S. Treasury), Bob Scott (NEUCIC Commissioner), Hans Olson (UMass Lowell)

The closing panel tackled one of the most urgent and unsettled issues in cybersecurity: the shift from passive defense toward active disruption. Panelists discussed how the term “hackback” has evolved into “disruption,” signaling a potential policy shift toward more permissive industry countermeasures.

Michael Madon argued that industry is increasingly forced to act on its own as federal agencies struggle with clearance delays, safe harbor concerns, and institutional inertia. Bob Scott offered a note of caution, emphasizing the risks of untrained actors engaging in disruption and the danger of exposing sensitive capabilities. Hans Olson highlighted the role of agentic AI, noting that as sophisticated cyber responses become push-button simple, the barriers to action and to mistakes are collapsing.

The panel converged on a central tension: when the government cannot move fast enough, industry self-help becomes inevitable, creating both serious risks and major market opportunities, particularly in underserved sectors like water and wastewater utilities.

Looking Ahead

The 2026 Boston Innovation Summit made clear that dual-use innovation is no longer a niche, it is the operating environment. Financial systems, AI, cyber infrastructure, and autonomous platforms are now strategic terrain. Founders, investors, and policymakers must navigate this reality together, with speed, trust, and a shared understanding of risk.

New North Ventures convened the Summit to help build that shared understanding and to accelerate the partnerships required to ensure that innovation remains a source of resilience rather than vulnerability. The conversations in Boston will continue well beyond this room, shaping how capital and technology are deployed in an era of persistent competition.

SAVE THE DATE: 2027 BOSTON INNOVATION SUMMIT — FEBRUARY 4th.

On February 5th New North Ventures is hosting the annual Boston Innovation Summit—an inside look at where dual-use innovation is heading and why public–private collaboration matters now more than ever. The summit brings together leaders from government, academia, R&D, industry and venture to tackle the toughest national security tech challenges. This year features a startup pitch competition and high-impact panels covering the following topics:

• Economic Warfare & Geofinance

• AI on the High Seas: How Automation is Shaping Maritime Tech

• From Seed to Scale: How Investors Fuel Dual-Use Startups

• Following the Money in Cyberspace: Defense Through Financial Intelligence

If you want a front row seat to what’s emerging, what’s shifting and what’s next in defense tech and investing you will want to be here.

Register Here

Powering the AI Boom: The Hidden Bottleneck Investors Can’t Ignore

The AI surge isn’t just a software revolution — it’s an energy crisis. Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon, Google, and Meta are pouring billions into new data centers, but many facilities are sitting idle because there isn’t enough electricity to run them. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s Chief Executive, sums it up: the problem isn’t a lack of compute — it’s a lack of power.

Big tech is in a construction frenzy: over $400bn in capex is planned in the coming years, dominated by data centers. OpenAI’s infrastructure deals alone total $1.4tn, representing 28GW of planned capacity. But the grid can’t keep up. Interconnection delays now stretch beyond eight years, and equipment like transformers and turbines face multi-year backlogs.

Some hard numbers:

• By 2026, five U.S. data centers will draw more than 1GW each at peak.

• Microsoft’s Wisconsin site could surpass 3GW by 2028.

• The U.S. added 51GW of new capacity in 2024; China added 429GW, over a third of the world’s total increase.

With the grid choking, companies are scrambling — installing onsite gas turbines, restarting nuclear plants, and hunting for alternative power sources. But upgrades are slow and costly: transformers take 3–4x longer to get than in 2020, and new gas turbines are ~4.5 years out.

What this means for investors and dual-use tech:

• AI is now power-constrained, not compute-constrained.

• Energy infrastructure has become a strategic national asset.

• The nexus of reliable, flexible power + AI compute is an emerging investment frontier.

The AI boom is colliding head-on with America’s grid limits. Anyone tracking dual-use tech, AI infrastructure, or national competitiveness needs to understand this bottleneck — it’s the new battleground.

America’s Nuclear Battlefield: The Janus Program’s Strategic Power Play

The Janus Program — launched by U.S. Army in November 2025 — seeks to deploy compact nuclear microreactors on domestic military bases by 2028, with prototype power plants expected by 2030.

The plan names nine initial candidate bases, each with high energy demands. These microreactors would operate independently of the civilian grid, offering resilient, secure power for installations even under threats like grid failure, cyberattacks, or supply‑chain disruptions.

Under a fast, milestone‑based contracting model, private firms will build and operate the reactors under Army oversight — marking a shift toward commercially managed but militarily regulated nuclear infrastructure.

If successful, Janus may redefine how the U.S. powers its military footprint — reducing dependence on diesel/fossil support, boosting energy resilience, and accelerating broader adoption of advanced reactor technology.

NNV’s portfolio company Anno.AI partnered with Spear AI turning Duluth Minnesota & Lake Superior into a new national hub for autonomous systems testing. Drawn by the region’s extreme weather, varied terrain, and wide-open air and water space, the two companies are building a real-world proving ground for next-generation aircraft, vehicles, and maritime systems.

Spear AI is deploying advanced sensor buoys across the lake, while Anno.AI is laying the groundwork for a full “Lake Superior Test Range” with fiber-optic infrastructure, radars, and upgraded port capabilities. Backed by a $17.5M defense contract and $10M in private capital, the companies have already begun hiring locally and expect to rapidly expand.

The result: Duluth is positioning itself as a strategic node for national security innovation — and a rising economic engine — as autonomous tech moves from lab environments into the real world.

In this episode, host Jeremy sits down with Paul Lwin, the pioneer behind HavocAI, a maritime technology company that’s just 21 months old. Paul shares their incredible journey of raising $85 million, growing a team of 80, and generating $3 million in revenue through advanced autonomous maritime vessels. Learn about Havoc’AIs mission to create a ‘Hellscape’ in the Pacific with thousands of intelligent vessels, overcoming challenges in maritime environments, and utilizing cutting-edge AI and ML technologies. With real-world applications and insights into dual-use innovation, this episode sheds light on the future of maritime domain awareness and autonomous systems.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

A new Council on Foreign Relations task force just revealed something unsettling: China has outspent the U.S. 3-to-1 over the past decade on the technologies that will define the next century. While we’ve been debating industrial policy in conference rooms, Beijing has been building quantum satellites, dominating rare earth refining, and quietly becoming the contract manufacturer for 80% of U.S. biotech companies. The gap isn’t just closing—in some areas, it’s already closed.

The Task Force’s November 2025 report identifies a critical vulnerability pattern across AI, quantum computing, and biotechnology. Consider the bottleneck cascade: the U.S. depends on China for 70% of rare earths and 99% of heavy rare earths needed for semiconductor manufacturing. Those semiconductors power AI data centers, which require printed circuit boards—30% of which come from China. Chinese firms have captured 33% of global active pharmaceutical ingredient capacity, and 80% of U.S. biotech firms have at least one Chinese contract.

This isn’t just about supply chain risk—it’s about compounding dependencies in foundational technologies worth an estimated $29 trillion by 2040. When one Chinese firm (WuXi AppTech) has been involved in developing a quarter of drugs used in the United States, we’re not discussing contingency planning anymore. We’re discussing technological sovereignty and risk to economic resilience.

The most striking data point: China closed the AI model performance gap by 80% in 2024 alone across four key benchmarks. Meanwhile, U.S. biotech startup financing dropped 65% in early 2025, and China is spending twice what the U.S. spends on quantum research. The investment arbitrage is real, and it’s accelerating.

For dual-use investors, three sectors warrant immediate attention:

1. Onshore semiconductor inputs: The report recommends $3B in incentives to domesticate chemical production for chips (wet chemicals, photoresists, dry etchants). Look for companies building these capabilities in partnership with Japanese firms, particularly those that can capture the 25% initial investment subsidy for U.S. facilities.

2. Quantum computing infrastructure: DOD procurement of utility-scale quantum computers (recommended $1.3B initial funding) will create downstream opportunities. Track companies developing specialized components currently single-sourced from Finland (dilution refrigerators) or Germany (ultra-high vacuum chambers). The supply chain diversification play is early but essential.

3. Biomanufacturing hubs: The recommended network of advanced biomanufacturing facilities with private co-investment addresses a critical gap. Companies positioned to build six-month stockpiles of key starting materials and APIs from trusted markets will benefit from both strategic importance and probable government funding.

The report’s recommendation to establish an Economic Security Center at Commerce signals a more coordinated, sustained approach to industrial policy. This isn’t a political cycle phenomenon—it’s a generational reorientation of how economic and national security intersect. For investors in dual-use technologies, the message is clear: supply chain provenance and domestic manufacturing capacity are becoming as important as technical capability. The companies that solve for both and the investors who back them will capture disproportionate value in the decade ahead.

Be the Navy, Not a Pirate

Andreessen Horowitz published a piece last week arguing that successful organizations must evolve from pirates to navies. Pirates move fast and win battles through audacity. Navies build systems, codify doctrine, and project power at scale. The essay uses SpaceX as the exemplar of this transition done well. Structure, properly designed, enables rather than inhibits speed.

The timing is notable because we are watching this exact tension play out in defense procurement. The Pentagon’s recent reforms emphasize wartime speed. The CFR task force report documents supply chain dependencies that cannot be solved through acquisition velocity alone. You need both the pirate’s decisiveness and risk tolerance and the navy’s infrastructure.

The companies that succeed in dual-use markets will be those that can move with pirate speed while projecting navy reliability. That combination is rare and difficult to build, which is precisely why it creates defensible advantage.

More links to explore:

• US will sell F-35 to Saudi Arabia

• Now Tech Moguls Want to Build Data Centers in Outer Space

HavocAI has won the U.S. Army’s xTechPacific 2025 competition with its Rampage Autonomous Maritime Protection Platform for vessel escort. The company took first place among twelve finalists competing across three challenge areas focused on Indo-Pacific operational requirements. Havoc now receives $55,000 in non-dilutive prize money and eligibility to submit a Direct to Phase II Army SBIR proposal worth up to $2 million for prototype development.

The win validates Havoc’s software-first approach to autonomous maritime defense at a moment when the Pentagon is actively seeking advanced capabilities for watercraft protection. The company demonstrated sufficient technical maturity to move directly into prototype development, bypassing traditional Phase I requirements. Congratulations to the Havoc team.

In this episode, host Jeremy sits down with Paul Lwin, the pioneer behind HavocAI, a maritime technology company that’s just 21 months old. Paul shares their incredible journey of raising $85 million, growing a team of 80, and generating $3 million in revenue through advanced autonomous maritime vessels. Learn about Havoc’AIs mission to create a ‘Hellscape’ in the Pacific with thousands of intelligent vessels, overcoming challenges in maritime environments, and utilizing cutting-edge AI and ML technologies. With real-world applications and insights into dual-use innovation, this episode sheds light on the future of maritime domain awareness and autonomous systems.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

When George Washington resigned his commission and returned to Mount Vernon, he set a precedent as powerful as any victory—service without self-interest. Like the Roman farmer-soldier Cincinnatus, he embodied the ideal of citizens who serve not for power or profit but to preserve the republic. That same spirit shaped the first American soldiers in 1775, ordinary people bound by an oath to defend ideas greater than themselves.

Two and a half centuries later, that oath still echoes. It endures in veterans who traded uniforms for startups and in founders who see technology as a civic act. At New North Ventures we’re seeing a generation of entrepreneurs who combine Washington’s restraint with Franklin’s inventiveness—builders who understand that innovation and duty are not opposing forces but complementary virtues. Dual-use ventures at their best follow this lineage, solving national problems through private initiative and balancing commercial success with public purpose.

For those working at the frontier of defense and technology, the lesson is both timeless and practical. Serve first, build well, hand it forward. The measure of success is not how much power is kept but how much resilience is created. The oath that once bound citizen-soldiers now guides citizen-builders—quietly, steadily, toward a stronger republic.

Pentagon Procurement Push

The Pentagon is moving at what Defense Secretary Hegseth calls “wartime speed” to overhaul weapons production. Program offices are being streamlined, testing bottlenecks cleared, and commercial solutions are being used when custom military systems move too slowly. The goal is to prevent bureaucracy from leaving the U.S. behind in an era of fast-moving global threats.

The changes are affecting both traditional defense contractors and newer, nontraditional suppliers. Major contractors like Boeing and Lockheed Martin now face pressure to adapt or risk losing ground to smaller, more agile companies. The Pentagon is also aiming to diversify supply chains and create incentives for companies to invest in production capacity, signaling a willingness to move beyond decades-old acquisition practices.

For dual-use founders and investors, the key takeaway is that the Pentagon is actively creating space for faster contracting and alternative suppliers. How these shifts play out over the next 12 to 18 months—particularly in partnerships between startups and legacy players—will be worth watching closely. The emphasis on speed, reliability, and flexibility in acquisition reflects a significant evolution in U.S. defense procurement.

More links to explore:

• US Nuclear Bomber Fleet Shares Fence With Trailer Park Linked To Chinese Intel-Tied Fraudster

• The Next Big Funding Source Isn’t VC/PE. It’s the Office of Strategic Capital

Reality Defender has been inducted into JPMorganChase’s 2025 Hall of Innovation, recognizing its deepfake detection platform for measurable business impact and trusted partnerships in securing critical communications. The award highlights the company’s ability to protect enterprise operations from AI-driven impersonation and fraud.

The induction follows Reality Defender’s recent RealAPI launch, which expands deepfake detection capabilities to developers worldwide. The platform integrates directly into enterprise workflows, helping organizations verify content authenticity at scale while reducing fraud exposure and maintaining business continuity in an era of rapidly evolving generative AI threats.

For investors and partners, Reality Defender exemplifies the dual-use promise: combining advanced AI technology with operational credibility and tangible outcomes. By partnering closely with financial institutions like JPMorganChase, the company demonstrates that proactive, scalable defenses against synthetic media are not just possible—they are essential.

In this episode, host Jeremy sits down with Paul Lwin, the pioneer behind HavocAI, a maritime technology company that’s just 21 months old. Paul shares their incredible journey of raising $85 million, growing a team of 80, and generating $3 million in revenue through advanced autonomous maritime vessels. Learn about Havoc’AIs mission to create a ‘Hellscape’ in the Pacific with thousands of intelligent vessels, overcoming challenges in maritime environments, and utilizing cutting-edge AI and ML technologies. With real-world applications and insights into dual-use innovation, this episode sheds light on the future of maritime domain awareness and autonomous systems.

Thanks for reading Securing Our Future! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.